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Taiwan finds huge underwater gas hydrate reserve

Posted on: Monday, 4 September 2006, 03:27 CDT

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan geologists have confirmed the existence of more than 500 billion cubic meters of gas hydrate off the southwest coast, enough to meet the island's gas needs for over 60 years, a government geologist said on Monday.

But commercial extraction is likely much more than a decade away as techniques to tap the gas are still being developed, Wang Yunshuen, section chief of the mineral resources section, at the Central Geological Survey.

"For gas hydrate, every country in the world is still in the investigative stage and cannot yet produce it commercially," Wang said. "There are still many technical difficulties that must be overcome .... it will take more than 10 years," Wang said.

Hydrate formations exist under hundreds of meters of water in places like the Gulf of Mexico and closer to the surface in permafrost areas of the Arctic.

Methane, the main component of the gas, when burned releases less carbon dioxide -- the main greenhouse gas that scientists believe are warming the earth -- than any other fossil fuel.

But if it escapes to the atmosphere without being burned, it can trap heat rapidly because it is a greenhouse gas at least 20 times stronger than carbon dioxide.

Wang said the hydrate formation was around 100 nautical miles off Kaohsiung in the south, saying the geological survey would now take more detailed imaging of the sea floor on areas where signs of hydrate reserves are strongest.

Originally detected by the state-run Chinese Petroleum Corp. in the early 1990s, the gas hydrate was confirmed by the geological survey after two-and-a-half years of investigation, the survey said in a statement on their Web site last month.

Based one Taiwan's annual gas usage of 7-8 billion cubic meters, the geological survey expects the reserves could supply Taiwan with its gas needs for over 60 years.

Taiwan, with scarce natural resources, currently relies on imports to meet 97 percent of all energy needs.

South Korea says desolate islands also claimed by Japan that lie in waters between the two neighbors could sit atop billions of dollars' worth of gas hydrate deposits, sparking an ownership row over which the two sides met on Monday to discuss.

Source: REUTERS

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