Gas Hydrates on the Norway-Barents Sea-Svalbard margin(GANS)

The main objective of this Norwegian national initiative is to quantify gas accumulations in the form of hydrates in sediments on the Norway-Barents Sea-Svalbard margins, including an assessment of their dynamics and impacts on the seabed to provide knowledge; vital for a safe exploitation in oil and gas production. This overall objective is an initiative by five research institutions and the Norwegian Deepwater Programme, SEABED III (consortium of nine petroleum companies), to make a coordinated effort on a national level to achieve the main objective to make a coordinated effort on a national level to achieve the main objective by the following sub-goals: a) Geophysical characterisation of gas hydrates, b) Geological and geochemical setting of gas hydrate reservoirs and seeps, c) Gas hydrate dissociation and its effects on geomechanical properties, d) Theoretical and experimental evaluation of gas hydrate dynamics. Three contrasting target areas are of particular interest for field studies and experiments: (1) the mid-Norwegian margin at Nyegga, a national laboratory for gas hydrate research, (2) the Svalbard margin frontier area; important for understanding the geological controls on gas hydrates and fluids, and (3) the Barents Sea, a prolific area with possible occurrence of gas hydrates and clear evidence for active cold seeps. Our initiative allows for the establishment of an acknowledged Norwegian academia-industry network on gas hydrates where education of a new generation of interdisciplinarily trained scientists will be a central task. Our aims are to be achieved by integrating detailed geophysical studies of zones of gas hydrates and associated free gas in cooperation with geotechnical laboratory experiments, theoretical and experimental gas hydrate dynamic studies, geological studies, and geochemical studies of the fluids. The project is financed through the Norwegian Research Council - Petromaks (40 percent) and the SEABED III industry consortium (60 percent) over a period of 4 years starting in October 2006.