Japan invests heavily in the development of a profitable way to recover gas from methane hydrates which are captured in ice underground. The initiative is referred to as the follow-up to the technological breakthrough which formed the basis for the US shale gas revolution in a comment by Carsten Andenæs in Finansavisen (Thursday 6th of February).
Japan has great faith in the project, and increased the research funding for usage of methane hydrates by 150 % in its annual budget.
Professor Arne Graue and Professor Bjørn Kvamme at the University of Bergen have acquired themselves a role in Japan’s big project. They patented a method of injecting CO2 to the methane hydrate reservoirs, which make them able to replace the methane with CO2. The technology was developed and patented in collaboration with ConocoPhilips, and BTO holds the rights to the technology on behalf of University of Bergen.