The total in-place natural gas resources represented globally by methane hydrates are enormous, but they occur in a wide range of accumulation types. As with other petroleum resources, the accumulation types most favorable for production are the least abundant, creating a pyramidal resource distribution. A generalized resource pyramid for gas hydrates (right) is shown in relation to resource pyramid for all gas resources (left). Society continues to progress down through the global gas pyramid (left), aided by occasional technological breakthroughs that enable significant access to previously unrecoverable resources. Gas hydrates (right) may experience a similar progression with initial production most likely to occur within marine or Arctic sands. Given the vast scale of hydrate resources, however, potential volumes even at the apex of the hydrate pyramid are significant.

Year: 2009

From collection: Frozen Heat - A Global Outlook on Methane Gas Hydrates

Cartographer: GRID-Arendal