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What would you want to bet that those estimates for methane hydrates are as limited by today’s technology and extent of exploration as the early 20th century estimates of petroleum reserves?

Actually those are very rough estimates. I found three widely divergent and picked the middle one to be safe. It is just that in any deep ocean water along a continental shelf they find this stuff. And in some places it can be up to half a kilometer thick.

The problem is that the deepest parts of the ocean are virtually unknown. Twelve men have walked on the moon, two have gone to the bottom of the Mariana Trench. And while the astronauts went out for a walk and picked up some rocks, for obvious reasons the hydro naughts never left their ship.

Unfortunately the water pressure needed to form the methane hydrate (greater than 300 m) will crush all but a few research subs.

Oh and did i mention it can also be formed in shallow water if the water temperature is very cold. The Arctic and Antarctic should have large reserves tied up in the permafrost, but since it is expensive to recover and gas is currently plentiful nobody has bothered looking yet. The USGS estimate 400 gigatonnes in the Arctic (total known conventional natural gas supply is estimated at 230 Gt) but they don't even have enough data to make an estimate of the Antarctic.

Amazing! I think scientists are going to have to come to the conclusion that planets are hydrocarbon factories. It’s what they do.

Good facts - thanks.