In the late spring of 2008, the Chevron-led Gulf of Mexico Gas Hydrate Joint Industry Project (JIP) expects to conduct an exploratory drilling and logging campaign to better understand gas hydrate-bearing sands in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. The JIP Site Selection team selected three areas to test alternative geological models and geophysical interpretations supporting the existence of potential high gas hydrate saturations in reservoir-quality sands. The three sites are near existing drill holes which provide geological and geophysical constraints in Alaminos Canyon (AC) lease block 818, Green Canyon (GC) 955, and Walker Ridge (WR) 313. At the AC818 site, gas hydrate is interpreted to occur within the Oligocene Frio volcaniclastic sand at the crest of a fold that is shallow enough to be in the hydrate stability zone. Drilling at GC955 will sample a faulted, buried Pleistocene channel-levee system in an area characterized by seafloor fluid expulsion features, structural closure associated with uplifted salt, and abundant seismic evidence for upward migration of fluids and gas into the sand-rich parts of the sedimentary section. Drilling at WR313 targets ponded sheet sands and associated channel/levee deposits within a minibasin, making this a non-structural play. The potential for gas hydrate occurrence at WR313 is supported by shingled phase reversals consistent with the transition from gas-charged sand to overlying gas-hydrate saturated sand. Drilling locations have been selected at each site to 1) test geological methods and models used to infer the occurrence of gas hydrate in sand reservoirs in different settings in the northern Gulf of Mexico; 2) calibrate geophysical models used to detect gas hydrate sands, map reservoir thicknesses, and estimate the degree of gas hydrate saturation; and 3) delineate potential locations for subsequent JIP drilling and coring operations that will collect samples for comprehensive physical property, geochemical and other analyses

Gas hydrate investigations are converging on a suite of common techniques for hydrate observation and quantification. Samples retrieved and analyzed at full in situ pressures are the ”gold standard” with which the physical and chemical analysis of conventional cores, as well as the interpretation of geophysical data, are calibrated and groundtruthed. Methane mass balance calculations from depressurization of pressure cores provide the benchmark for gas hydrate concentration assessment. Nondestructive measurements of pressure cores have removed errors in the estimation of pore volume, making this methane mass balance technique accurate and robust. Data from methane mass balance used to confirm chlorinity baselines makes porewater freshening analysis more accurate. High-resolution nondestructive analysis of gas-hydratebearing cores at in situ pressures and temperatures also provides detailed information on the in situ nature and morphology of gas hydrate in sediments, allowing better interpretation of conventional core thermal images as well as downhole electrical resistivity logs. The detailed profiles of density and Vp, together with spot measurements of Vs, electrical resistivity, and hardness, provide background data essential for modeling the behavior of the formation on a larger scale. X-ray images show the detailed hydrate morphology, which provides clues to the mechanism of deposit formation and data for modeling the kinetics of deposit dissociation. Gashydrate- bearing pressure cores subjected to X-ray tomographic reconstruction provide evidence that gas hydrate morphology in many natural sedimentary environments is particularly complex and impossible to replicate in the laboratory. Even when only a small percentage of the sediment column is sampled with pressure cores, these detailed measurements greatly enhance the understanding and interpretation of the more continuous data sets collected by conventional coring and downhole logging. Pressure core analysis has become the keystone that links these data sets together and is an essential component of modern gas hydrate investigations.

Hydrogen is currently considered by many as the “fuel of the future”. It is particularly favoured as a replacement for fossil fuels due to its clean-burning properties; the waste product of combustion being water. While hydrogen is relatively easy to produce, there is currently a lack of practical storage methods for molecular H2, and this is greatly hindering the use of hydrogen as a fuel. Gases are normally stored in vessels under only moderate pressures and in liquid form where possible, which yields the highest energy density. However, to store reasonable quantities of hydrogen in similar volume containers, cryogenic temperatures or extreme pressure are required. Many potential hydrogen storage technologies are currently under investigation, including adsorption on metal hydrides, nanotubes and glass microspheres, and the chemical breakdown of compounds containing hydrogen to release H2. Recent studies have sparked interest in hydrates as a potential hydrogen storage material. The molecular storage of hydrogen in clathrate hydrates could offer significant benefits with regard to ease of formation/regeneration, cost and safety, as compared to other storage materials currently under investigation. Here, we present new experimental hydrate stability data for sII forming hydrogen–water (up to pressures of 180 MPa) and hydrogen–water–tetrahydrofuran systems, the structure-H forming hydrogen–water–methyclycohexane system, and semi-clathrate forming hydrogen–water–tetra-n-butyl ammonium bromide/tetra–n-butyl ammonium fluoride systems.

Ultraviolet-visible spectra are presented for a polycrystalline sample of chlorine clathrate hydrate and two single crystal samples of bromine clathrate hydrate. The data shows that the UV-visible spectroscopy is a sensitive probe for studying the interactions between the halogen guest molecule and the host water lattice. The spectrum for chlorine hydrate shows a surprisingly strong temperature dependence. The spectra reported for bromine clathrate hydrate single crystals reinforce our previous conclusion that there is a stable cubic type II structure as well as the tetragonal structure. There is also a metastable cubic type I structure. The new results are discussed in the context of previous results, resonance Raman spectroscopy, and how the molecules fit into the host cages.

The past decade has witnessed dramatic changes in the oil and gas industry with the drilling and production extending into progressively deeper waters and higher operating pressures, therefore making it essential to gain a better understanding of the behaviour of gas hydrate at high pressure conditions. New experimental 3-phase H−LW−V (Hydrate−Liquid Water−Vapour) equilibrium data for nitrogen and H−LW−V (Hydrate−Liquid Water−Vapour) and H−LW−LHC (Hydrate−Liquid Water−Liquid Hydrocarbon) data for ethane and propane simple clathrate hydrates were generated by a reliable fixed-volume, isochoric, step-heating technique. The accuracy and reliability of the experimental measurements are demonstrated by comparing measurements with reliable literature data from different researchers. Additional experimental data up to high pressure (200 MPa when available) for CH4, C2H6, C3H8, i-C4H10, N2, Ar, Kr, Xe, H2S, O2, CO and CO2 clathrates have been gathered from literature. The Valderrama modification of the Patel-Teja (VPT) equation of state combined with non-density-dependent (NDD) mixing rules is used to model the fluid phases with previously reported binary interaction parameters. The hydrate-forming conditions are modelled by the solid solution theory of van der Waals and Platteeuw. Langmuir constants have been calculated by both Kihara potential as well as direct techniques. Model predictions are validated against independent experimental data and a good agreement between predictions and experimental data is observed, supporting the reliability of the developed model.

Studying clathrate hydrates is, ideally, a simple task: one just have to keep water under a gas pressure. However, when trying to collect measurements in an accurate and repeatable way, things mess up. When, in particular, kinetic characterizations are required, not only pressure and temperature have to be measured: also particular parameters such as gas evolved/trapped during time, heat released/adsorbed during time, critical phenomena related to additive addition, etc, should be collected in a finer way. In the last years a growing interest has been devoted to investigations on the effects of a wide range of compounds capable to affect the thermodynamics and, in particular, kinetics of clathrate hydrate formation. The study of the effects of these compounds, called conditioners, requires an improvement of the performances of usual lab facilities by introducing a new strategy for the measurement of further characterizing parameters. Presently no standardization of the apparatus designed for clathrate hydrate studies exists, nor any commercial instrumentations are available. Generally, apparatus used are custom-made by the same research team according with the peculiar research requirements To do this we have designed, built, calibrated and tested a novel apparatus that, in addition to the ability of measuring usually unexplored parameters, is based on the idea of obtaining as many parameters as possible in a single formation batch. This in order to solve the problem of collecting a dataset that can be processed homogeneously, thus minimizing errors due stochastic behaviours. Using such an apparatus, several kinds of measurement are presented here, which are related directly to the clathrate hydrate investigation fields, but also more generally related to the study of equilibrium phases involving gaseous components.

The Batumi Seep Area, offshore Georgia, Black Sea, has been intensively cored (gravity cores and TV-guided multi-cores) to investigate the methane turnover in the surface sediments. The seep area is characterized by vigorous methane gas bubble emanations. Geochemical analyses show a microbial origin of the methane and a shallow fluid source. Anaerobic methane oxidation rapidly consumes the SO4 2- within the top 5-20 cm, but significant upward fluid advection is not indicated by the porewater profiles. Hence, the Batumi Seep Area must be dominated by methane gas seepage in order to explain the required CH4 flux from below. 1-D transport-reaction modelling constrains the methane flux needed to support the observed SO4 2- flux as well as the rate of near-surface hydrate formation. The model results correlate well with the hydro-acoustic backscatter intensities recorded and mapped bubble release sites using the sonar of a ROV.

In order to evaluate a methane gas productivity of methane hydrate reservoirs, it is necessary to develop a numeric simulator predicting gas production behavior. For precise assessment of long-term gas productivity, it is important to develop a mathematical model which describes mechanical behaviors of methane hydrate reservoirs in consideration of their time-dependent properties and to introduce it into the numeric simulator. In this study, based on previous experimental results of triaxial compression tests of Toyoura sand containing synthetic methane hydrate, stress-strain relationships were formulated by variable-compliance-type constitutive model. The suggested model takes into account the time-dependent property obtained from laboratory investigation that time dependency of methane hydrate bearing sediment is influenced by methane hydrate saturation and effective confining pressure. Validity of the suggested model should be verified by other laboratory experiments on time-dependent behaviors of methane hydrate bearing sediment.