La Nacion reports that far beneath the ocean floor of Chile’s coast, massive reservoirs of methane hydrates have been located – an energy source which could secure Chile’s energy future. But a lack of support for the costly methane exploration studies, and the lack of knowledge about the risks of drilling, mean the plan to extract methane in Chile is sinking fast.

In simple terms, a methane hydrate is ice with natural gas trapped inside, a phenomenon produced by a combination of high pressure, low temperatures and the presence of water.

The Chilean coastline, especially between Valparaiso (Region V) and Concepcion (Region VIII), makes for a perfect methane hotspot. This area makes up 3 percent of the world’s methane reserves, a quantity which would justify dropping all other alternative energy ventures.

But for many in the energy industry it sounds just too good to be true. In Chile, investors and the government are reluctant to get involved in methane drilling projects, mainly because the environmental impacts are widely unknown, and the extraction of the gas is a highly complicated and costly process.

It is not easy when, as in Chile, the gas is trapped at depths of more than 1,500 meters below sea level, and 700 meters under the earth’s crust, or ocean floor.

According to the United States Geology Survey, worldwide methane hydrates contain twice as much energy as all other known fossil fuels combined.

Juan Diaz, a doctor of geophysics from the Valparaiso Catholic University (UCV) who is leading a study to locate an ideal methane drilling area, believes this is a big opportunity for Chile.

Since 2004 the UCV has carried out studies along the Chilean coastline, probing sites where the methane is most pure and easiest to extract.

“We are looking for where the methane lies, how much of it is there, what types of rocks and chemical components are with it; if it is in a safe geological environment or if there could be collapses, as well as if there are marine communities that could be affected by the drilling,” said Diaz. “The conditions need to be ideal so a prospection platform can be installed securely without the risk that it could be dislodged by marine currents, waves or wind.”

In 2004 the UCV team was hoping drilling would begin in Chile by 2008, but a lack of funds over the past five years has made it difficult for the university researchers to keep their project afloat.

“A more advanced study with more funding, and focusing specifically on the daily energy-production potential, needs to be done,” said Diaz.

This would involve the construction of a drilling platform and a drilling test to determine how quickly it might be possible to extract the gas from such great depths. But this requires money, something the team doesn’t have.

The investigators are currently relying on funding from Chile’s Science and Technology Development Fund (FONDEF) which contributed $200 million pesos (US$361,000). But even with support from partners The National Oil company (ENAP), COPEC, The Natural Gas Distribution Association, and Geodatos, they still don’t have enough support to carry out the appropriate tests.

“To open up a perforation in the sea will cost a minimum of US$200,000 per day,” said Diaz. “In other words, an investigation of this scale requires several millions of dollars, just for the perforation. We can keep investigating with FONDEF projects, but in the end we always fall short when it comes to verifying a site.”

While the government has not shown a lot of interest in this energy source, some ecologists have given it a little more attention.

“Even though lots of time will pass from now until they start drilling methane hydrates, it is an energy alternative which could complement other sources,” said Chile Sustentable director Sara Larrain.

In other countries, various methane drilling tests have been successfully carried out. Leading the field are Japan and India. To date, Japan appears to be the closest to commercial production (in 2016). Their Nankai Trough holds an estimated 40 trillion cubic-feet of methane gas hydrates and has received the largest investment and advanced field research of any project in the world.

Diaz is hopeful that if India and Japan can prove methane hydrates make for a safe and plentiful energy source, the Chilean energy industry might start paying attention, especially when the methane reserves in these two countries, as in Chile, will also be extracted hundreds of meters below the ocean floor.