The Economic Aspect of Gas Hydrate Development

경제성 측면에서의 가스하이드레이트 개발 가치

The price to import natural gas continues to rise, as well as the rate of its domestic consumption. This research examined the economic feasibility of domestically developing and producing gas hydrate to substitute imported natural gas. Today, the industry still lacks the technology to commercially produce gas hydrate. However, if the gas hydrate is able to be commercially produced domestically and replace imported natural gas, the annual economic benefit for the Republic of Korea would be 211 - 833 USD/ton. Gas hydrate is rated as a high value investment by the gas industry since the potential annual profit can reach over 150USD/ton. The commercial value of gas hydrate development will increase as long as the natural gas market continues to expand and its consumption increase remains steady. With further development of technology, one can anticipate an even higher expected return on the investment.