• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.71-84
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• 2013

Most gas hydrates (GH) occur in ocean sediments. Global GH reserves are estimated to be $10^{13}{\sim}20{\times}10^{15}m^3$, which is nearly 1,000 times the amount of current world energy consumption. Methane hydrate (MH) has the potential to be developed into future natural gas resources to replace traditional oil and gas resources, and thus MH production technologies such as depressurization, inhibitor injection, thermal stimulation, and $CO_2-CH_4$ substitution need to be further developed. MH production, which is expected to be in test production until 2014 in Korea, is focused on the development of GH production technologies for use in the commercial production of methane gas. This study compares MH production technology and its ability to meet the twin goals of being both effective and environmentally friendly while taking into consideration the complex phenomena of GH decomposition.