Natural Gas Deposit Confirmed
Beneath the ocean floor just off the Carolina coast, there’s enough natural gas to meet the nation’s needs for 105 years at current consumption levels, scientists report.
Only one problem: Nobody knows how to recover the stuff.
The methane within Blake ridge is contained in tiny bubbles and as a solid called methane hydrate. The solid, a combination of methane and water, is maintained by low temperature and high pressure. When brought to the surface, it fizzes as methane escapes.
Scientists have known about the deposit since 1970. The new work estimated the amount of methane by drilling core samples of the sediment, and the result is similar to original estimates, said researcher Gerald Dickens.
He was at the University of Michigan when he and colleagues did the work. Their report appears in the Jan. 30 issue of the journal Nature.
Similar deposits have been found worldwide, and “it’s becoming very clear now that these reservoirs do contain an awful lot of methane,” said Dickens.
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