CHARTING THE FUTURE OF METHANE HYDRATE RESEARCH IN THE UNITED STATES
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NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.
This study was supported by Contract/Grant No. DE-AM01-99PO80016 between the National Academy of Sciences and the U.S. Department of Energy. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the organizations or agencies that provided support for the project.
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Cover art designed by Van Nguyen of the National Academies Press, and includes a photograph of a burning methane hydrate taken by Liujuan Tang of the University of Hawaii. This photograph is reprinted with permission of Dr. Stephen Masutani, University of Hawaii, Hawaii Natural Energy Institute, © 2003.
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THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES
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Committee to Review the Activities Authorized Under the Methane Hydrate Research and Development Act of 20001
EARL H. DOYLE (Chair),
Shell Oil (retired), Sugar Land, Texas
SCOTT R. DALLIMORE,
Geological Survey of Canada, Sidney, British Columbia
RANA A. FINE,
University of Miami, Florida
AMOS M. NUR,
Stanford University, California
MICHAEL E.Q. PILSON,
University of Rhode Island, Narragansett
WILLIAM S. REEBURGH,
University of California, Irvine
E. DENDY SLOAN JR.,
Colorado School of Mines, Golden
ANNE M. TRÉHU,
Oregon State University, Corvallis
NRC Staff
JOANNE BINTZ, Study Director
JENNIFER MERRILL, Study Director
NANCY CAPUTO, Research Associate
The work of this committee was overseen by the Ocean Studies Board and the Board on Earth Sciences and Resources of the National Research Council.
1 |
The committee and staff biographies are provided in Appendix A. |
Ocean Studies Board
NANCY RABALAIS (Chair),
Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium, Chauvin
LEE G. ANDERSON,
University of Delaware, Newark
WHITLOW AU,
University of Hawaii at Manoa
ARTHUR BAGGEROER,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
RICHARD B. DERISO,
Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission, La Jolla, California
ROBERT B. DITTON,
Texas A&M University, College Station
EARL DOYLE,
Shell Oil (retired), Sugar Land, Texas
ROBERT DUCE,
Texas A&M University, College Station
PAUL G. GAFFNEY II,
National Defense University, Washington, D.C.
WAYNE R. GEYER,
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Massachusetts
STANLEY R. HART,
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Massachusetts
RALPH S. LEWIS,
Connecticut Geological Survey, Hartford
WILLIAM F. MARCUSON III,
U.S. Army Corp of Engineers (retired), Vicksburg, Mississippi
JULIAN P. MCCREARY JR.,
University of Hawaii, Honolulu
JACQUELINE MICHEL,
Research Planning, Inc., Columbia, South Carolina
JOAN OLTMAN-SHAY,
Northwest Research Associates, Inc., Bellevue, Washington
ROBERT T. PAINE,
University of Washington, Seattle
SHIRLEY A. POMPONI,
Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution, Fort Pierce, Florida
FRED N. SPIESS,
Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, California
DANIEL SUMAN,
Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami, Florida
NRC Staff
SUSAN ROBERTS, Director
JENNIFER MERRILL, Senior Program Officer
DAN WALKER, Senior Program Officer
ALAN B. SIELEN, Visiting Scholar
ANDREAS SOHRE, Financial Associate
SHIREL SMITH, Administrative Associate
JODI BACHIM, Research Associate
NANCY CAPUTO, Research Associate
SARAH CAPOTE, Senior Program Assistant
Board on Earth Sciences and Resources
GEORGE M. HORNBERGER (Chair),
University of Virginia, Charlottesville
M. LEE ALLISON,
Kansas Energy Council, Topeka
JILL BANFIELD,
University of California, Berkeley
STEVEN R. BOHLEN,
Joint Oceanographic Institutions, Washington, D.C.
ADAM M. DZIEWONSKI,
Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
RHEA GRAHAM,
Pueblo of Sandia, Bernalillo, New Mexico
ROBYN HANNIGAN,
Arkansas State University, State University
V. RAMA MURTHY,
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
RAYMOND A. PRICE,
Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
MARK SCHAEFER,
NatureServe, Arlington, Virginia
STEVEN M. STANLEY,
The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
BILLIE L. TURNER II,
Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts
STEPHEN G. WELLS,
Desert Research Institute, Reno, Nevada
THOMAS J. WILBANKS,
Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Tennessee
NRC Staff
ANTHONY R. DE SOUZA, Director
PAUL M. CUTLER, Senior Program Officer
TAMARA L. DICKINSON, Senior Program Officer
DAVID A. FEARY, Senior Program Officer
ANNE M. LINN, Senior Program Officer
RONALD F. ABLER, Senior Scholar
KRISTEN L. KRAPF, Program Officer
JENNIFER T. ESTEP, Administrative Associate
VERNA J. BOWEN, Administrative Associate
TANJA E. PILZAK, Research Associate
JAMES B. DAVIS, Program Assistant
AMANDA M. ROBERTS, Program Assistant
Preface
Methane hydrate research took a great leap forward with the passage of the Methane Hydrate Research and Development Act of 2000 (P.L. 106-193; Appendix B). This act mandates several levels of coordination for a program in methane hydrate research, including specific research areas to be pursued and a method for scientific input and oversight through an advisory panel and interagency coordinating team. In the past four years, the Department of Energy (DOE) Methane Hydrate Research and Development (R&D) Program has funded more than 30 projects totaling more than $29 million. The projects encompass a wide array of field and laboratory studies conducted in collaboration with academic institutions, industry, and other federal agencies. Without congressional reauthorization, Section 3 of the act, which defines the program, will cease to be effective at the end of Fiscal Year 2005.
In addition to the mandates already mentioned, the act calls for the National Research Council (NRC) to study progress made under the program initiated by the act and to make recommendations for future methane hydrate research and development needs. The Committee to Review the Activities Authorized Under the Methane Hydrate Research and Development Act of 2000 was convened for this purpose (Appendix A). Committee members included representatives from both academia and industry with a wide range of scientific and engineering expertise. The committee determined that it could not address the task thoroughly without reviewing the way in which program funds are awarded and the level of scientific oversight within the program. The committee agreed that it was outside the scope of the study to evaluate the scientific merit of all 30 projects funded by the DOE Methane Hydrate R&D Program and so chose to focus on two large international projects in which DOE participated; three large-scale, industry-managed projects that are expected to consume more than 60 percent of planned funding; and a few smaller-scale, academic and laboratory projects. The committee also was charged
with determining research needs for a future hydrate program. The committee did not recommend specific projects, but instead focused on emphasizing areas for future research.
In preparation for this study, the committee met in open session at three locations (Washington, D.C.; Houston, Texas; and La Jolla, California) to gather information from managers who oversee the DOE Methane Hydrate R&D Program, interagency collaborators, members of the Methane Hydrate Advisory Committee mandated by the Methane Hydrate Research and Development Act of 2000, and members of the industrial and scientific community that participate in research funded by the program (Appendix C). Some committee members also attended the DOE Office of Fossil Energy Methane Hydrate Research and Development Conference and a Gulf of Mexico Naturally Occurring Hydrates/Joint Industry Project Workshop in Westminster, Colorado, from September 29 to October 1, 2003, sponsored by DOE and ChevronTexaco (Appendix D). The purpose of attending these meetings was to better familiarize the committee with the results of the DOE Methane Hydrate R&D Program studies, to meet the participants, and to observe community input into the DOE Methane Hydrate R&D Program.
The primary goal of this report is not only to review the progress made under the act and to provide advice on future methane hydrate research and development needs, but also to emphasize the importance of scientific oversight and community input to funding that research. Such oversight, incorporating external proposal review and involvement of the advisory bodies mandated by the act and sponsored for that purpose, would bring a great deal to the program.
Earl Doyle, Chair
Acknowledgments
This report was greatly enhanced by those who participated in three open meetings held as part of this study. The committee would first like to acknowledge the efforts of those who gave presentations at open meetings: Edith Allison, Department of Energy (DOE), Fossil Energy Headquarters; Brad Tomer, DOE, National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL); Deborah Hutchinson, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS); Robert LaBelle, Minerals Management Service; Bilal Haq, National Science Foundation, and Planning Committee of the Secretary of Energy; Bhakta Rath, Naval Research Laboratory; Barbara Moore, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; Art Johnson, Hydrate Energy International, and chair of the DOE Methane Hydrate Advisory Committee; Robert Hunter, BP Exploration (Alaska), Inc.; Sivakumar Subramanian, ChevronTexaco; Thomas Williams, Maurer Technology, Inc; William Gwilliam, DOE, NETL; Steve Kirby, USGS; Tom Lorenson, USGS; Emrys Jones, ChevronTexaco; Tim Collett, USGS; George Moridis, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; Peter Brewer, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute; and Miriam Kastner, Scripps Institution of Oceanography. These talks helped set the stage for fruitful discussions in the closed sessions that followed.
The committee would like to thank the Board on Energy and Environmental Systems, especially the director James Zucchetto, for expert advice on this activity. The committee is also grateful to a number of people who provided important discussion and/or material for this report including: Harry Roberts, Louisiana State University; William Parrish, Conoco-Phillips (retired); Timothy Collett, U.S. Geological Survey; Brad Tomer, DOE; Edith Allison, DOE; Ray Boswell, DOE; Stephen Masutani, University of Hawaii; Ted McCallister, DOE; Keith A. Kvenvolden, USGS; Alexei V. Milkov, BP America; Bill Liddell, Anadarko Petroleum Corporation; Ross Chapman, University of Victoria; John Beck, Ocean Drilling Program; Kim Bracchi, Ocean Drilling Program; and Liujuan Tang, University of Hawaii.
This report has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with procedures approved by the National Research Council’s Report Review Committee. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the institution in making its published report as sound as possible and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process. We wish to thank the following individuals for their participation in the review of this report.
ROBERT G. BEA, University of California, Berkeley
JOHN B. CURTIS, Colorado School of Mines, Golden
ROBERT FISK, Bureau of Land Management, Anchorage, Alaska
GERALD D. HOLDER, University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
GEORGE M. HORNBERGER, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
CHRIS MAPLES, Desert Research Institute, Reno, Nevada
ALEXEI V. MILKOV, BP America, Houston, Texas
CHARLES K. PAULL, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Moss Landing, California
DAVID W. SCHOLL, U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, California
JEFF SEVERINGHAUS, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, California
PATRICIA SOBECKY, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta
JEAN K. WHELAN, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Massachusetts
Although the reviewers listed above have provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the conclusions or recommendations nor did they see the final draft of the report before its release. The review of this report was overseen by Carl Wunsch, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, and Raymond Price, Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada, who were appointed by the National Research Council, and were responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this report was carried out in accordance with institutional procedures and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content of this report rests entirely with the authoring committee and the institution.