South Korea has discovered a large-scale gas hydrate structure in the Ulleung Basin in the East Sea, becoming the fifth country in the world to locate the natural resource through offshore drilling following the United States, Japan, India and China.
According to the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy Thursday, the deposit was found in deep waters about 135 kilometers northeast of the port city of Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province.
Ministry officials said the gas hydrate structure has a thickness of about 130 meters, much larger than that of other structures found by Japan, India and China in the past.
During the 54-day search and exploratory drilling in three locations, which were sometimes 1,800 meters deep, the ministry also found a deposit with a thickness of 100 meters at a point about nine kilometers north of the 130-meter-thick deposit.
Gas hydrates are usually found deep under water where cold temperatures and extreme pressure cause natural gas to condense into semisolid form. When brought to the surface, it can be used as liquefied natural gas (LNG).
Nicknamed ``Burning Ice,’’ gas hydrates have become more popular due to soaring crude oil prices and growing concerns over climate change since when burnt they emit only 24 percent of the carbon dioxide given off by fossil fuels such as coal and oil.
Experts estimate that about 600 million tons of gas hydrates might be found in the East Sea, an amount sufficient enough to meet the country’s LNG needs for 30 years. In 2005, South Korea imported 2.7 million tons of LNG to meet domestic demand.
``We cannot tell the exact amount of the newly found deposit at the moment,’’ a ministry official said. ``But our latest discovery has raised the chances that total deposits in the East Sea will be much higher than our previous estimate of 600 million tons.’’
Experts from the Korea National Oil Corp., the Korea Institute of Geoscience & Mineral Resources and the Korea Gas Corp. took part in the exploration project with Fugro NV of the Netherlands, which provided a specialized drilling vessel.
Officials said the country has invested about 66.7 billion won ($71.2 million) in the past two years to conduct initial studies to find and determine the size of gas hydrate deposits.
South Korea plans to spend another 85 billion won until 2011 to collect additional data on the location of potential deposits and develop the necessary technology to use the energy resource.
In the third phase, scheduled from 2012 to 2014, the country will develop efficient methods to extract and use gas hydrates. According to energy experts, there might be up to 10 trillion tons of the resource worldwide in deep oceans and permafrost areas.