Natural Gas Hydrates – A Review of the Resources Offshore Nigeria and around the Globe

Abstract:

Natural gas hydrates are ice-like materials which exist in permafrost regions and in the continental margins of oceans. They constitute a huge unconventional reservoir of natural gas around the globe including offshore Nigeria. The paper is a review of this important global resource with particular focus on the Nigerian deposits. The reasons for the interest on hydrates are discussed including the potential for the recovery of large quantities of methane, the climate change and ocean floor instability that may result from their dissociation. They may also be exploited for large-scale CO2 sequestration. The geographical distribution of hydrates deposits on earth, the thermodynamics of why they occur in those particular places and source of the methane gas that is eventually enchlathrated into hydrates are discussed. The natural gas in the Nigerian hydrate is essentially biogenic in origin and is almost pure methane (more than 99% methane). The hydrates exist in finely disseminated or massive aggregate forms within clay-rich sediment.

• Periodical: International Journal of Engineering Research in Africa (Volume 4)
• Pages: 27-33
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/JERA.4.27
• Online since: May 2011
• Authors: U.P. Igboanusi, J.U. Okere
• Keywords: Methane, Natural Gas, Natural Gas Hydrate, Nigeria, Unconventional Resource

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