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Nation plans large-scale investment in new energy

By Mai Dou (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-08-23 08:44

When lit, every cubic metre of gas hydrates, commonly known as "fire in ice," is capable of releasing as much energy as 160 to 180 cubic metres of natural gas.

Optimists say gas hydrates could reliably replace the conventional oil and coal, thanks to its abundant deposits under the sea.

They believe that the world's gas hydrates reserves are equivalent to as much as twice the combined amount of coal, oil and natural gas, sufficient to meet global energy demands for a thousand years.

China began preliminary research into gas hydrates in 1999, and plans to work with its German counterparts to sample the fuel in the northern part of the South China Sea within the year.

"China so far has discovered enormous reserves of gas hydrates in the offshore areas  only those spotted in the northern part of the South China Sea are expected to amount to half the oil resources on the land," the NDRC report said.

China had recoverable oil reserves of as much as 21.2 billion tons last September, according to figures from the Ministry of Land and Resources.

Impressive as it may sound, some experts are not so enthusiastic, saying the new energy source would not be available for everyday use until far into the future.

"Like hydrogen technology, the gas hydrates development is still at a very nascent stage, and we need to do a lot more work to get it onto the ground," said Ni Weidou, chairman of the Tsinghua-BP Clean Energy Research and Education Centre. "Meanwhile, we cannot rule out the possibility of finding another source which is competitive with gas hydrates in the future."

Ni said coal-to-fuel technologies would be the most feasible to address concerns over the price of oil and dirty coal, citing China's rich coal resources.

"As oil prices are not expected to fall below US$50 per barrel, coal-converted fuels such as methanol and other oil products will be major alternatives to ease China's heavy reliance on oil," Ni said.