OTC-25144-MS

Global Screening of Gas Hydrates

Thomas Reichel, and Joseph W. Gallagher, Statoil ASA

Copyright 2014, Offshore Technology Conference

This paper was prepared for presentation at the Offshore Technology Conference held in Houston, Texas, USA, 5 8 May 2014.
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Abstract
Gas hydrates have been identified as a possible future hydrocarbon resource. Within the exploration
industry various projects have been established to further understand and advance this frontier concept.
This presentation will give an overview of results from a recent global basin screening of gas hydrates.
The main objective was to define and rank the worlds most prospective areas. A conventional exploration
risking approach was used to evaluate and risk both offshore and onshore basins for hydrocarbon source,
gas migration pathways, reservoir properties and sealing capabilities of the sediments. Seismic data, well
logs and other relevant data including public domain data have been analyzed. Approximately 500
onshore and offshore basins have been evaluated and ranked, several of which reveal good to very good
gas hydrate potential. Data examples are presented to outline the approach taken in more detail and to
illustrate some of the characteristics of typical prospective gas hydrate accumulations. Based on the results
of this study, we believe we have localized some of the more interesting sweet-spots from an industry
perspective. Technological developments, the gas price and the continued increase in demand for energy
will define if and when these resources will be exploited on a large scale.

Introduction
There is little doubt that the current global resources of conventional hydrocarbons are on the decline.
Hydrocarbons will continue to be a crucial source of energy for many decades to come hence many
independent oil companies, academia and nations have initiated programmes to investigate the possibility
of exploiting gas hydrate resources to make up the expected shortfall.
This paper will describe the application of a conventional petroleum systems approach in performing
a global basin screening of gas hydrate resources. Many onshore and offshore basins have been evaluated
using conventional 2D and 3D seismic, well log data and additional publically available data, in order to
investigate the gas hydrate potential both in terms of hydrate presence and exploitability.

Methods
Whether gas hydrates are present in a basin or not is highly dependend on present day temperature and
pressure conditions.3, 4 Stable gas hydrate conditions occur both in onshore basins within Arctic regions

OTC-25144-MS

Figure 1Global screening map summarizing the method and main risking parameters used in basin ranking

where permafrost provides a sufficiently cold environment and in offshore basins characterized by water
depths generally greater than approximately 300m.9
Based on these criteria, basins with a gas hydrate stability zone (GHSZ) have been analyzed in more
detail to estimate their hydrate resource potential. Subsequently, a conventional petroleum system
approach has been used to further analyze and characterize the various basins. Important factors are:
- Presence of a hydrocarbon source
- Possibility of hydrocarbon migration into the GHSZ
- Reservoir presence (sand) within the GHSZ
- Reservoir sealing (shale/mud) above a potential hydrate reservoir
These factors have been analyzed for each basin. Furthermore, the basin ranking has taken into account
data confidence with basins having more available data being given a higher overall weighting (Figure
1).
Seismic data is the principle input to screening the hydrate potential within a basin. In marine sediments
the base of the GHSZ is very often characterized by a Bottom Simulating Reflector (BSR). To find hydrate
accumulations in potentially prospective concentrations the section between seabed and the BSR has been
studied in detail for key seismic signatures including units of high impedence, strong locally bounded high
amplitudes and phase reversals appearing along individual units crossing the GHSZ (Figure 2). 1, 2, 5, 6,
8, 10

In some basins the data confidence was sufficiently high with good well log information and 3D seismic
coverage - in these cases a more detailed resource assessment has been performed.

Discussion and Results

In total 567 basin were analyzed and 256 basin have been defined to contain areas favourable for hydrate
stable conditions. Of these, 197 were evaluated in detail of which only 14 have good potential for gas
hydrates reservoired in sand-prone sediments or have proven reserves based on seismic or well data

OTC-25144-MS

Figure 2Seismic features relating to gas hydrate accumulations (BSR-Bottom Simulating Reflector)

Figure 3Time Structure map (1) and maximum amplitude attribute map (2) of hydrate prospects with seismic examples
(BSR Bottom Simulating Reflector

(Figure 2 & 3). A list of the Top 10 gas hydrates basins has been established and resource assessments
have been performed on the most promising ones.
Based on this study, we can expect to discover several prospects in each basin and initial calculations
have revealed volumes of up to 5 TCF. Such potential volumes can hardly be ignored and may become
the next big thing in exploration.

OTC-25144-MS

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