Michael D. Max has a broad background including geology, geophysics, chemistry, acoustics, and information technology. He has a BSc from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, an MSc from the University of Wyoming, and a PhD from Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland. He has worked as a geologist / geophysicist for the Geological Survey of Ireland, the Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC, and the NATO Undersea Research Center, La Spezia, Italy. From 1999 to 2011 Max was CEO and Head of Research for Marine Desalination Systems LLC, which established a hydrate research laboratory and explored industrial applications of gas hydrate. He is the author of many scientific publications and four textbooks, and holds over 40 patents. He assisted in the writing of the US Gas Hydrate Research and Development Act of 2000. Michael is a member of the Methane Hydrate Advisory Committee of the Department of Energy 2014-2019, and is Co-Chair, Diving Committee of the Marine Technology Society. He is an Adjunct Professor at the School of Geological Sciences of University College, Dublin, Ireland.  HEI has been closed.  Michael is now carrying on his R&D activities through Max Systems LLC and University College, Dublin, Ireland.

Art Johnson was a founding partner of Hydrate Energy International, LLC (HEI). Prior to forming HEI in 2002, Art had been a geologist with Chevron for 25 years, where his career included most aspects of hydrocarbon exploration and development. Art was instrumental in initiating Chevron's Gulf of Mexico program for gas hydrate studies in 1995. He advised Congress and the White House on energy issues starting in 1997, and chaired advisory committees for several Secretaries on Energy. He had a longstanding role coordinating the research efforts of industry, universities, and government agencies. Art served as the Gas Hydrate Lead Analyst for the Global Energy Assessment, an international project undertaken by the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) of Vienna, Austria and supported by the World Bank, UN organizations, and national governments that evaluated the energy resource bases of the entire planet with a view to addressing energy needs in the decades to come. He was Chair of the Gas Hydrate Committee of the Energy Minerals Division of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) and was also very active in his Methodist Church and in helping with hurricane relief and peacemaking activities. Much to the sorrow of his good friend and co-author, and of countless other friends, Art unexpectedly passed away on August 9, 2017.

Preface

Chapter 1Energy Overview:  Future for Natural Gas 

1.1  Energy, GDP, and Society

1.2  The Energy Mix

1.3  Electrical Load Characteristic

1.4  Matching Power Supply to Demand

1.5. The 100% Renewable Energy Objective and the Cost and Security Roadblocks

1.6  Energy Policy in a CO2 Sensitive Power Future

1.7  Strategic  Importance of Natural Gas in the New Energy Paradigm

1.8  Natural Gas Backstop to Renewable Energy

Chapter 2Economic Characteristics of Deepwater Natural Gas Hydrate 

2.1  Natural Gas Hydrate

2.1.1  NGH as a Natural Gas Storage Media

2.1.2  Solution Concentration Controls Growth

2.1.2.1  Gas Transport within a Sediment Pile

2.1.3  NGH Stability

2.1.4  The Gas Hydrate Stability Zone

2.1.5  The Seafloor may not be the Top of the GHSZ:

2.2  NGH Stability within the GHSZ: Implications for Gas Production Cost

2.3  Geology Controls NGH Paragenesis

2.4  Production-Oriented Classification of Oceanic NGH Concentrations in Permeable Strata

2.5  NGH may be the Largest Natural Gas Resource on Earth

2.6  Other NGH Concentrations that May Be Producable

2.6.1  NGH Vent Plugs

2.6.2  Stratabound Secondary Porosity NGH Concentrations

2.6.3  Blake Ridge Type Deposits

2.7  NGH in the Spectrum of Conventional and Unconventional Oil and Gas Resources

2.8  Low Environmental Risk Character of the NGH Resource

2.9  Could Low-Salinity Water be a Valuable Byproduct?

References

Chapter 3Exploration for Deepwater Natural Gas Hydrate 

3.1  NGH Exploration

3.1.1  Deepwater and Ultra-deepwater

3.1.2  Basin modeling

3.1.3  NGH Prospect Zone.

3.2  NGH Petroleum System Analysis

3.2.1  NGH and Conventional Hydrocarbon System Analysis

3.3  Marine Sediment Host for NGH deposits

3.4. NGH Reservoir Hydrocarbon Component Expectations

3.4.1  Closed NGH Concentrations

3.4.2  Open NGH Concentrations

3.5  NGH Exploration Methods

3.5.1  Seismic Survey & Analysis

3.5.1.1  BSR (Bottom Simulating Reflector)

3.5.2  Ocean Bottom Seismometers

3.5.3  Electromagnetic (EM) Survey

3.5.4.  NGH Ground-Truthing:  Drilling

3.5.4.1  Picking Drilling Targets

3.5.5  State of NGH Exploration

3.6  NGH Exploration Potential: Glacial Period Sea Level Low Stands in the Mediterranean and  Black Seas

3.6.1  The Mediterranean Sea

3.6.2  Lowstand in the Black Sea: Sand Transfer to the Slopes

3.6.3  GHSZ and NGH Prospectability in the Mediterranean and Black Seas

3.7  National NGH Programs and Company Interest

3.7.1  Exploration Activity in Regions and Countries

3.8  Frontier Regions

References

Chapter 4Potential High Quality Reservoir Sediments in the Gas Hydrate Stability Zone

4.1  High Quality Sand Reservoirs on Continental Margin.

4.2  Subsided Rift-Related Sediments 

4.3  Paralic Reservoirs

4.4  Aeolian - Sabkha Reservoirs

4.5  Contourites

4.6  Sequence Stratigraphy-Related Marine Sequences

4.7 The Special Case of Hig...