State of the art: Natural gas hydrates as a natural resource

An overview is provided of hydrates in nature manuscripts among the 800 papers of the Seventh International Conference on Gas Hydrates (Edinburgh, July 17–22, 2011), to demonstrate the basic chemico-geophysics, as well as a perspective on hydrates as a resource activity by each country.The following summarizes the current status of gas hydrates as a natural resource: (1) there is substantial methane in hydrates, (2) the most accessible hydrates are in sandy sediments, with lithological controls, (3) laboratory characterization tools are available, (4) field detection tools are acceptable, (5) many of the national programs are in the phase of resource identification and characterization, with two exceptions, and (6) the first long-term production tests of methane hydrates will likely start in 2012 in the North Slope permafrost, and offshore Japan.