Recognizing the importance of methane hydrate research and the need for a coordinated effort, the United States Congress enacted the Methane Hydrate Research and Development Act of 2000. At the same time, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry in Japan launched a research program to develop plans for a methane hydrate exploratory drilling project in the Nankai Trough. India, China, the Republic of Korea, and other nations also have established large methane hydrate research and development programs. Government-funded scientific research drilling expeditions and production test studies have provided a wealth of information on the occurrence of methane hydrates in nature. Numerous studies have shown that the amount of gas stored as methane hydrates in the world may exceed the volume of known organic carbon sources. However, methane hydrates represent both a scientific and technical challenge, and much remains to be learned about their characteristics and occurrence in nature. Methane hydrate research in recent years has mostly focused on: (1) documenting the geologic parameters that control the occurrence and stability of methane hydrates in nature, (2) assessing the volume of natural gas stored within various methane hydrate accumulations, (3) analyzing the production response and characteristics of methane hydrates, (4) identifying and predicting natural and induced environmental and climate impacts of natural methane hydrates, (5) analyzing the methane hydrate role as a geohazard, (6) establishing the means to detect and characterize methane hydrate accumulations using geologic and geophysical data, and (7) establishing the thermodynamic phase equilibrium properties of methane hydrates as a function of temperature, pressure, and gas composition. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the Consortium for Ocean Leadership (COL) combined their efforts in 2012 to assess the contributions that scientific drilling has made and could continue to make to advance our understanding of methane hydrates in nature. COL assembled a Methane Hydrate Project Science Team with members from academia, industry, and government. This Science Team worked with COL and DOE to develop and host the Methane Hydrate Community Workshop, which surveyed a substantial cross section of the methane hydrate research community for input on the most important research developments in our understanding of methane hydrates in nature and their potential role as an energy resource, a geohazard, and/or as an agent of global climate change. Our understanding of how methane hydrates occur in nature is still growing and evolving, and it is known with certainty that field, laboratory, and modeling studies have contributed greatly to our understanding of hydrates in nature and will continue to be a critical source of the information needed to advance our understanding of methane hydrates.

No abstract

Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Expedition 311 was conducted to study gas hydrate occurrences and their evolution along a transect spanning the entire northern Cascadia accretionary margin. A transect of four research sites (U1325, U1326, U1327, and U1329) was established over a distance of 32 km, extending from Site U1326 near the deformation front to Site U1329 at the eastern limit of the inferred gas hydrate occurrence zone. In addition to the transect, a fifth site (U1328) was established at a cold vent setting with active fluid and gas expulsion, which provided an opportunity to compare regional pervasive fluid-flow regimes to a site of focused fluid advection. In this synthesis, a revised gas hydrate formation model is proposed based on a combination of geophysical, geochemical, and sedimentological data acquired during and after Expedition 311 and from previous studies. The main elements of this revised model are as follows:1. Fluid expulsion by tectonic compression of accreted sediments at nonuniform expulsion rates along the transect results in the evolution of variable pore water regimes across the margin. Sites closer to the deformation front are characterized by pore fluids enriched in dissolved salts at depth, where zeolite formation from ash diagenesis is dominant. In contrast, the landward portion of the margin shows a freshening of pore fluids with depth as a result of the progressive overprinting of diagenetic salt generation with freshwater generation from the smectite-to-illite transition at greater depth. 2. In situ methane produced by microbial CO 2 reduction within the gas hydrate stability zone is the prevalent gas source for gas hydrate formation. 3. Some minor methane advection from depth is required overall to explain the occurrence of gas hydrate (and the associated downhole isotopic signatures of CH 4 and CO 2 ) within the sediments of the accretionary prism and the absence of gas hydrate within the abyssal plain sediments. In contrast, methane migrating from depth is a dominant source for gas hydrate formation at the cold vent Site U1328 (Bullseye vent). 4. Gas hydrate preferentially forms in coarser grained sandy/silt turbidites, resulting in very high local gas hydrate concentrations. Typically, gas hydrate occupies <5% of the pore space throughout the gas hydrate stability zone. Higher gas hydrate saturations were observed in intervals with abundant coarse-

Abstract:The thermal-stimulation test conducted on the JAPEX/JNOC/GSC et al. Mallik 5L-38 gas hydrate production research well in March of 2002 was designed to increase the in situ temperature of a portion of a well defined and constrained gas hydrate reservoir above the gas hydrate stability point, while maintaining constant pressure. Data collected, including surface and downhole instrumentation readings and data from advanced logging and seismic programs, were then used to calibrate numerical gas hydrate reservoirsimulation models and determine the kinetic and thermodynamic properties of the in situ gas hydrate.The thermal-stimulation test was successful: bottomhole temperature was increased to greater than 50°C during the test; gas from dissociated gas hydrate was produced, sampled, and flared at surface; and significant amounts of real-time downhole temperature and pressure data, as well as other scientific measurements, were obtained. L'essai de stimulation thermique a été une réussite : on a pu accroître la température au fond du puits à plus de 50°C durant l'essai; on a produit, échantillonné et brûlé à la surface du gaz naturel provenant de la dissociation des hydrates de gaz; et on a généré, entre autres données scientifiques, une quantité considérable de mesures de température et de pression, acquises en temps réel dans le puits.