Gas Hydrates on Alaska’s North Slope Hold One of Nation’s Largest Deposits of Technically Recoverable Natural Gas

2008 November 12

by USGS Newsroom

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne and U.S. Geological Survey Director Mark Myers today released a USGS assessment estimating that there are 85.4 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered, technically recoverable gas from natural gas hydrates on the Alaskan North Slope. This would be enough natural gas to heat more than 100 million average homes for 10 years, according to current usage rates provided by the Energy Information Administration. However, further research, including long-term production tests, still is needed to demonstrate gas hydrates as an economically producible resource.