Frozen Methane Extraction

Heated debate over frozen gas off B.C. coast Last Updated Mon, 09 Sep 2002 22:23:53

VICTORIA, B.C. - It doesn't look much like fuel. But a glacier of frozen gas at the bottom of the ocean off British Columbia could one day be a major source of energy for Canada for a long time.

The deposit of methane hydrate, or frozen gas, came to light early last month when a fishing crew pulled up a chunk of the material in their nets.

Scientists using a mini-submersible later found the deposit, about 75 kilometres off the west coast of Vancouver Island. Large chunks of the material are sitting in about 850 metres of water.

"There's likely enough methane and natural gas out there to satisfy energy reserves in Canada for about 40 years," said Dr. Ross Chapman, a University of Victoria.

But there's a catch. Scientists have yet to find a good way to extract the natural gas from the frozen mass. Some industry analysts say it could be decades before a process is in place.

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<a href="http://cbc.ca/stories/2002/09/09/methane020909">http://cbc.ca/stories/2002/09/09/methane020909</a>

Interesting story; how would you recover this stuff? Has anyone heard of mining this type of deposit? Received on Tue Sep 10 11:39:00 2002