Industrial perspective on natural gas hydrates

Natural gas hydrates are usually considered as possible nuisances in the development of oil and gas fields, mainly in deepwater drilling operations and if multiphase transport technologies are to be examined. However they have an energetic potential value if economic recovery schemes are found for the enormous amounts of methane trapped in the hydrates naturally occurring in the earth crust (`white coal'). On another side, hydrates can be used for the safe and economic storage of natural gas, mainly in cold countries. In remote offshore areas, the use of hydrates for natural gas transportation is also presently considered as an economic alternative to the processes based either on liquefaction or on compression. This paper presents some possible medium-term industrial perspectives, either to reduce the nuisance of hydrates or to exploit their potential applications.