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Proactive disclosure Print version   | |  Mallik 2002 Backgrounder
MALLIK GAS HYDRATE RESEARCH WELL PROGRAM Mallik 2002 is a C$25-million international program to investigate gas hydrates, led by Natural Resources Canada (NRCan). More than 100 leading scientists from Canada, Japan, the U.S., Germany and India will take part in this groundbreaking research - the first of its kind in the world. Three research wells will be drilled through the permafrost of the Mackenzie Delta this winter to evaluate the potential and economic viability of gas hydrate production and to study the role of gas hydrates in climate change. The researchers will conduct scientific experiments to gain a better understanding of gas hydrates, test new drilling techniques and production methods. This project will position Canada at the forefront of gas hydrate research. Natural gas recovered from gas hydrates is the cleanest-burning conventional hydrocarbon and is likely to become a dominant energy source in the future. The site of the project, the Mallik gas hydrate field, was discovered through an exploration well drilled by Imperial Oil Ltd. in 1971-1972. What are gas hydrates? Gas hydrates are ice-like substances composed of water and natural gas that form under conditions of low temperature and high pressure. They underlie large portions of the world's arctic continental areas and marine continental shelves. A number of countries such as India, Japan and China have substantial marine gas hydrate deposits. Canada is also well endowed with gas hydrates in the Arctic and off its coasts. Gas hydrates, primarily methane, are a very concentrated form of clean energy, yielding 164 times their solid volume in gas. It is estimated that more energy is stored as gas hydrates than as all other forms of conventional hydrocarbons combined, including coal, oil and natural gas. If recovery technologies can be developed to make exploitation of gas hydrates economically feasible, gas hydrates could substantially alter the world energy supply situation. There are also environmental issues associated with gas hydrates that need further investigation. There is mounting evidence that natural gas hydrates have had a very significant role in enhancing the pace of past global climate change through the release of methane, a greenhouse gas that has 21 times the adverse effects of carbon dioxide. Research is needed to assess the potential impacts of gas hydrates released by melting permafrost. Another area of concern is the natural hazard posed by gas hydrates. Drilling through shallow gas hydrate accumulations has caused loss of life and infrastructure destruction in such locations as the Arctic and the Gulf of Mexico. Gas hydrates are also known to cause seafloor instabilities that can severely damage cables or pipelines on the ocean floor. Previous research Gas hydrates issues have received significantly more attention in recent years. Interest within the Canadian oil and gas sector is building as a new phase of exploration advances in the North. NRCan has recently taken a leadership role in gas hydrate studies with active research activities in the Arctic and off Canada's coasts, and Japan, the U.S., Germany, and a number of other countries have established large study programs. In the mid-1990s, an international consortium was formed to establish a world research site at Mallik to study continental natural gas hydrates. A 1,150-metre-deep scientific research well was completed at this site in 1998. The project From mid-December 2001 to mid-March 2002, three 1,200-metre gas hydrate research wells will be drilled through the permafrost on Richards Island of the Mackenzie Delta., on the shore of the Beaufort Sea. Permafrost is 640 metres thick and mean annual air temperatures are about -10°C. The engineering and logistical challenges of the program are considerable, involving the construction of an ice road, the moving of equipment and drilling under Arctic winter conditions. There will be one production test well and two observation wells 40 metres on either side. Full-scale field experiments will be conducted to monitor the physical behaviour of the gas hydrate deposits in response to depressurization and thermal production stimulation. A comprehensive science program, with coring, two observation wells and production testing, will be undertaken. Cores will be transported 200 kilometres over ice roads to Inuvik, where some 60 researchers will perform geophysical and other tests, describe and analyze samples, and create subsamples for detailed scientific study in research labs around the world. NRCan scientists will also investigate the possibility of storing carbon dioxide in reservoirs previously occupied by gas hydrates as an innovative way of meeting Canada's emissions-reduction objectives. The results
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For more information, contact: Scott R. Dallimore
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