Announcements

First of Its Kind Expedition in the Beaufort Sea Completed! On September 26, 2009, the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energys National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ), and a team of 32 university and government scientists from the U.S., Netherlands, Belgium and Germany completed a first of its kind expedition in the Beaufort Sea. The 12-day Methane in the Arctic Shelf/Slope (MITAS) expedition represents the first step in a more thorough evaluation of the distributions and concentrations of methane and methane hydrates in the U.S. portion of the Arctic ocean. Fossil Energy/NETL News Release .

Physical Property Database Now Available! The “Clathrate Hydrate Physical Property Database” has been created by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) under DOE Interagency Agreement DE-AI26-06NT42938. The database encompasses thermophysical (including phase equilibria) as well as field (Mallik - 2002) property data and provides to researchers the ability to submit new datasets and retrieve evaluated data. The database is now accessible online as open domain-free access storage and retrieval facility using the following link: "http://gashydrates.nist.gov/ [external site].

Summer 2009 Edition of Fire In The Ice Now Available!
In this edition read about the JIP Leg II discoveries in the Gulf of Mexico, lake-based seep studies and the identification of sites for extended term reservoir testing on the Alaskan North Slope, gas hydrates offshore Mexico, the research contributions of the Naval Research Laboratory, and the contributions to hydrate resarch of Dan McConnell of AOA Geophysics.

U.S. Department of Energy FY2008 Methane Hydrate Program Report to Congress [PDF-external site]
This report describes actions taken in Fiscal Year (FY) 2008 to carry out the Methane Hydrate Research and Development Act of 2000, as amended by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct). EPAct requires that the Secretary of Energy provide this report annually.

NETL Technology Manager Gives Perspective on Methane Hydrate in Science Magazine In the article, "Is Gas Hydrate Energy Within Reach?", Dr. Ray Boswell, technology manager for the Office of Fossil Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory methane hydrates program, discusses recent findings and new research approaches that are clarifying gas hydrates energy potential.

The Interagency Roadmap for Methane Hydrate R&D [PDF] outlines a plan of action to fully address the goals of the MH Research & Development Act of 2000.

Key LInks

• All About Hydrates
• NETL/DOE Hydrate Projects
• Reference Shelf
• The National R&D Program
• Interagency Coordination
• Fire in the Ice Newsletter
• Major Field Studies -
  • 2009 MITAS Beaufort Sea Expedition
  • AK North Slope Major Field Project
  • 2009 GOM JIP - Leg II
  • 2005 GOM JIP - Leg I
• Code Comparison Study
• Graduate Fellowship Program
• Gas Hydrates Resource Pyramid

Summer 2009 edition now available!
  In this issue...

• 2009 Gulf of Mexico JIP Leg II Discovers Rich Gas Hydrate Accumulations in Sand Reservoirs in the Gulf of Mexico
• Alaska Seep Studies
• Gas Hydrates Offshore Mexico
• Alaska Reservoir Testing
• Naval Research Laboratory Methane Hydrate Research
• "Spotlight on Research": Dan McConnell - AOA Geophysics