Natural gas hydrates are a naturally occurring, ice-like combination of natural gas and water. These are crystalline forms of methane and water and exist in shallow sediments of outer continental margins. They are envisaged as a viable major energy resource for the future and are mainly found in oceans and polar regions.
Availability of natural gas hydrates in India:

• In India, gas hydrate resources are estimated at 1,894 trillion cubic meters (tcm) and these deposits occur in Eastern, Western and Andaman offshore areas.
• Assessment of geological conditions and limited available seismic data suggests a high possibility of occurrence of large quantities of gas hydrates within the EEZ of India. The two promising sites that have been identified are the Krishna-Godavari (KG) and the Mahanadi basins.
• Large, highly enriched accumulations of natural gas hydrate have been discovered in the Bay of Bengal. This is the first discovery of its kind in the Indian Ocean that has the potential to be producible.

Natural gas hydrates are of immense importance and promise in the following ways:

• Future energy resource: The amount of gas within the world’s gas hydrate accumulations is estimated to greatly exceed the volume of all known conventional gas resources. If India produces only 10% from this gigantic treasure, it can meet India’s overwhelming energy requirement for about 100 years.
• Climate-friendly energy: Using methane from gas hydrate as an energy resource would be, compared to other hydrocarbons, relatively climate-friendly as combustion of methane is twice as efficient as burning coal.=
• Importance for other studies: Gas hydrates are also important for seafloor stability studies, because “melting” gas hydrate may cause seafloor “land” slides.

Despite their significance, the following challenges are associated with their exploration:

• Issue with methodology: One of the toughest challenges is that natural gas hydrates are hard to detect by using seismic methods, the main tool used by the oil industry.
• Issues with production: Producing the gas in hydrate structures causes the solid structure that is drilled to disintegrate causing problems for drilling in these formations.
  • Existing hydrocarbon resources still make this resource unfeasible for production.
  • Also, the resources near the ocean bottom may be affected by seasonal changes of water temperature releasing natural gas thus decreasing resources.
• Geohazard: Natural gas hydrates may be a significant hazard because they alter sea floor sediment stability, influencing collapse and landsliding.
• Impact on global climate change: Global warming may cause hydrate destabilization and gas release through a rise in ocean bottom water temperatures. Methane release in turn would be expected to accelerate warming, causing further dissociation, potentially resulting in runaway global warming.

As one of the cleanest fossil fuel options, natural gas hydrates could be an important source of energy for future energy scenarios. It will become highly valued as a local energy resource, particularly for nations like India with limited conventional domestic energy options.