Eleven lengths of core in the foreground with tanks of liquid nitrogen (to keep samples of gas hydrate cold during transport) and bottled gas (to keep the gas hydrate samples under pressure during transport) in the background.

The coring at the rig continues to go well. By the end of today a total of 37 lengths of core have been recovered with the well down to 1103 m. Core recovery is up around 72%. Changes in the technology used to retrieve the core since the 1998 Mallik program, coupled with the fact that the drilling mud is chilled to 0EC, have resulted in the quick recovery of excellent core. On run #19 for example coring started at 1:35 a.m., 7.5 m of core were cut and the resulting material was being logged (described) in the core shack by 3:05 a.m.! The excellent recovery rate means that researchers are confident that they have obtained representative samples of gas hydrate through the entire hydrate-bearing interval. These samples combined with the downhole geophysical data means that it should be possible to select the very best zone for the production testing portion of the Mallik 2002 program.