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Agence France-Presse

China is drilling deep into the ocean floor in the hope of tapping vast deposits of a frozen fossil fuel known as “combustible ice”, but it will be years before it is part of the global energy mix.
Gas hydrates are found in the seabed as well as beneath permafrost, but experts say extracting methane from the ice crystals is technologically challenging and expensive.
Energy-guzzling China, one of several countries hoping to exploit the hard-to-reach resource to meet growing demand, recently announced a “historic breakthrough” in drilling tests in the South China Sea.
The promising new energy source Beijing is tapping from the South China Sea and why it matters
In six weeks teams extracted more than 235,000 cubic metres of gas hydrate off the coast of southern China’s Guangdong province, according to a statement on the China Geological Survey’s website.
“China has beaten expectations in completing the trial explorations of combustible ice using local innovations in technology and engineering,” said Ye Jianliang, head of the Guangzhou Marine Geology Survey.
“It marks a historic breakthrough,” he said.

One cubic metre of gas hydrate, which is also known as “flammable ice” because methane can ignite, releases 164 cubic metres of conventional natural gas once extracted, according to the United States Department of Energy.
China reports smooth production of gas from ‘flammable ice’ under the sea
Methane is extracted by heating or reducing the pressure inside the well to break down the hydrates.
Estimates for the size of the planet’s gas hydrate deposits vary widely but the US department said it could exceed “the combined energy content of all other known fossil fuels”.
Analysts have said the substantial resource could be a “game changer” for countries that have limited access to conventional natural gas.

“The perfect example is Japan because they don’t have much conventional gas and for them it could be an important reserve,” said Ingo Pecher, a senior lecturer in the science faculty at New Zealand’s University of Auckland.
Japan is heavily reliant on liquefied natural gas imports, with most of the country’s fleet of nuclear reactors still offline more than six years after the 2011 tsunami disaster at Fukushima.
But Pecher said: “It boils down to economics.”
Why climate change is very real, despite what Donald Trump says, and how natural gas can help Hong Kong
While known and presumed gas hydrate deposits have been identified from New Zealand to Alaska, the challenge is to find ones that are highly concentrated and accessible.
Several countries are hoping to turn gas hydrate into a viable source of energy, including Japan, which has reported drilling success off its Pacific coast.
The United States, which is also looking into the potential of gas hydrate, has obtained positive results from exploratory drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.
But commercially viable production is “another 10 years” away, said Paul Duerloo, partner and managing director at Boston Consulting Group in Tokyo.
“We know where the resource is, the technology we need to apply, but the production rates out of the wells are not commercially sustainable at the current prices,” said Duerloo, noting that shale gas, another unconventional energy source that faced similar challenges, took a long time to “take off”.
China expects to start commercial production of gas hydrate “around 2030”, according to its Ministry of Land and Resources.
China Gas to benefit as coal to gas switch brings on millions of new users in northern areas
Another concern surrounding gas hydrate extraction is the potential for methane – a greenhouse gas – to leak into the atmosphere and fuel global warming, said Xu Yuan, associate professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s geography and resource management department.
Nevertheless, gas hydrates have “huge potential” if the cost and technological hurdles can be overcome, he said.


China taps ‘combustible ice’ from sea floor, but extracting gas will be a costly challenge

Teams extract 235,000 cubic metres of gas hydrate in ‘historic breakthrough’ in drilling tests in the South China Sea

(170621) -- GUANGZHOU, June 21, 2017 (Xinhua) -- Photo taken on June 21, 2017 shows a drill machine on the trial mining site in the Shenhu area of the South China Sea. China has extracted about 235,000 cubic meters of the combustible ice from the South China Sea, beating previous expectations for the mining operation. Wednesday afternoon marked six weeks of an ongoing mining operation in waters near the Pearl River estuary, without being disrupted by this year's second typhoon Merbok. (Xinhua/Huang Guobao)

This photo taken on February 13, 2017 shows a semi-submersible drilling platform in the waters off Yantai, in China's Shandong province. China has joined efforts to tap the world's vast deposits of natural gas hydrates or "combustible ice", but it will be years before the fossil fuel is part of the global energy mix. / AFP PHOTO / STR / China OUT / TO GO WITH: China-energy-environment, FOCUS by Allison JACKSON

A drilling platform for combustible ice is seen in the Shenhu area of the South China Sea, off the coast of southern China’s Guangdong province. Photo: Reuters.

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Teams extract 235,000 cubic metres of gas hydrate in ‘historic breakthrough’ in drilling tests in the South China Sea


China taps ‘combustible ice’ from sea floor, but extracting gas will be a costly challenge

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Teams extract 235,000 cubic metres of gas hydrate in ‘historic breakthrough’ in drilling tests in the South China Sea

Teams extract 235,000 cubic metres of gas hydrate in ‘historic breakthrough’ in drilling tests in the South China Sea