Hydrate Occurrence in Europe: Risks, Rewards, and Legal Frameworks
| Autor: | Roy Andrew Partain, Constantinos Yiallourides |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2020 |
| Předmět: |
0106 biological sciences
Economics and Econometrics Natural resource economics media_common.quotation_subject Clathrate hydrate Climate change Management Monitoring Policy and Law Aquatic Science 01 natural sciences Energy policy Article Methane chemistry.chemical_compound Natural gas Revenue General Environmental Science media_common business.industry 010604 marine biology & hydrobiology 04 agricultural and veterinary sciences chemistry Desertification Sustainability 040102 fisheries 0401 agriculture forestry and fisheries Environmental science Submarine pipeline business Law |
| Zdroj: | Marine Policy |
| ISSN: | 1556-5068 |
| DOI: | 10.2139/ssrn.3674812 |
| Popis: | Asbtract In January of this year (2020), a major scientific study (‘the Minshull report’) announced that gas hydrate reservoirs were found in many offshore areas across Europe. The European Commission is now considering a policy view to commercialize the development and extraction of methane gas from European offshore areas. Affirmation from the European Commission that offshore methane hydrates are too useful and too valuable to forego development could initiate a global response to adopt offshore methane hydrates as a new source of natural gas for heating, for electrical power supplies, and for potential new revenues. The upside? The potential rewards from offshore methane hydrates are multi-fold. Coastal states are surrounded in methane hydrate resources that if responsibly developed could enable vast amounts of methane (natural gas) to be produced for decades or centuries beyond the timelines of conventional natural gas assets. There are also massive volumes of fresh water trapped in hydrates that could aid in fighting droughts and desertification. The downside? There are novel foreseeable risks that might result from those commercial methane hydrate activities. The climate change risks and geo-physical hazards from offshore methane hydrates are quite distinct from both conventional and unconventional hydrocarbons. There are new challenges to achieving safety and sustainability. In review, this paper both welcomes the discovery and confirmation of offshore methane hydrates in European waters and also raises concerns that more research is required on the optimal policy strategies for the known and foreseeable risks to best enable safe and sustainable policy choices. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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