In October 2025, the flame used in the lighting ceremony for China's 15th National Games was sourced from methane hydrate, or combustible ice, harvested from a depth of 1,522 meters in the
In October 2025, the flame used in the lighting ceremony for China's 15th National Games was sourced from methane hydrate, or combustible ice, harvested from a depth of 1,522 meters in the South China Sea.
Symbolic of the rising interest in methane hydrate as an energy source, the move coincides with increasing attention from researchers in Asia and around the world.
Gas hydrates are a crystalline solids that look and act much like ice but contains huge amounts of methane. They exist in marine sediments or in association with Arctic permafrost and are not stable at normal sea-level temperatures and pressures.
The United States Geological Survey has estimated that methane hydrates could contain twice the amount of carbon as all of the coal, oil, and conventional natural gas in the world combined.
Discoveries continue to be made. A team of international scientists from the Arctic University of Norway discovered the deepest known gas hydrate cold seep to date located 3,640 metres below the surface on the Molloy Ridge in the Greenland Sea in 2024.
The storage and transport of natural gas in solid hydrate form, known as solidified natural gas (SNG), offers a promising alternative to conventional methods
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