The Oil Drum: Europe

Messoyakha Gas Field : While the west postulates methane-hydrates recovery, the Russians have been producing from it for years. The Messoyakha gas field in the frozen northern Russia is an excellent example of a hydrocarbon accumulation from which gas has been produced commercially from hydrates, mostly by simple reservoir depressurization.

At least one-third and, most likely, two-thirds of the Messoyakh reservoir, which for 13 years has been in commercial production, occurs in the form of natural gas hydrates.
It is conservatively estimated that about 36% (about 5 billion cubic meters) of the gas withdrawn from the Russian field has come from the gas hydrates.

BLAKE RIDGE
The Blake Ridge hydrate resource is super-giant sized but the 250 meter thick free-gas underneath is the real commercial prize. The Hydrate zone above serves as a nice cap to trap the free gas underneath.

The entire Blake Ridge-Carolina resource has been estimated to contain between 1,000 to 1,300 trillion cubic feet of methane, mostly 99% pure. An estimated 25-40% of this is a free gas resource much of which is commercially viable today, (Estimated, 100-250 trillion cubic feet recoverable).

Significant clean free gas reserves and associated lower concentration Hydrates are known to be locked beneath the seafloor under vast areas within the Blake Ridge-Carolina Rise region. These super-giant Probable free-gas reserves cover an area, which is 75% within the US OCS 200 mile EEZ.

1. The Strategic Nine Corp., Consortium has made an International Resources Rights Claim, for the approximately 25% area of the Blake Ridge Gas resource located outside of the US 200 mile EEZ.

2. The Consortium has also made application for a very large unsolicited OCS Petroleum Extraction Lease on a non-competitive basis, within an area of the Blake Ridge-Carolina Rise, located beyond state jurisdiction but inside the US EEZ, within an area currently covered by a nation-wide Federal moratorium on new offshore leasing until June 2012. A waiver has been requested.

The Blake Ridge Free gas resources have the following attributes;

1. Confirmed presence of super-giant areal extent of high FREE GAS saturation (proved by coring and well logging, and by geophysical methods) in shallow, easily accessible reservoirs.

2. Occurrence within fine sediments much of sufficient reservoir quality to support horizontal well-based fracc production methods.

3. Site accessibility through close proximity to existing major US East coast markets and other infrastructure.

4. Additional 1,000 Tcf speculative resources of Gas Hydrates, some of which may become economically viable in the future.