全球天然气水合物勘查试采研究现状及发展趋势

天然气水合物是一种规模巨大且高效的新型清洁能源，其资源量是全球石油天然气和煤炭等化石能源资源量总和的2倍。日益增长的能源需求和对气候的重大影响，使人们对天然气水合物巨大资源潜力的兴趣倍增，因此，天然气水合物亦被科学家称为“未来全球能源发展的战略制高点”。近10多年来，美国、加拿大、日本、中国等均先后开展了陆地和海洋天然气水合物勘查与试采实验，印度和韩国亦准备近期开展海洋天然气水合物试采。总之，全球天然气水合物勘查试采的高潮正在蓬勃掀起。笔者分析阐述了世界天然气水合物研究的4个发展阶段，剖析了全球天然气水合物资源分布及主要国家天然气水合物资源潜力，并在此基础上，重点分析阐明了国内外天然气水合物勘查试采进展以及未来发展趋势，以期对我国天然气水合物勘查试采与研究工作有所裨益。

CURRENT STATUS AND FUTURE TRENDS OF EXPLORATION AND PILOT PRODUCTION OF GAS HYDRATE IN THE WORLD

Gas hydrate is regarded nowadays as a new type of clean energy with large reserve and high efficiency. The estimated resource of gas hydrate, according to newest data, is twice as much as the total global fossil energy resources including oil, natural gas and coal all together. Growing demand for energy and the challenge of global warming have pushed the people to pay more attention to the huge potential of gas hydrate, which has accordingly been considered by scientists as a "strategic high for future global energy supply". In the past decade, the United States, Canada, Japan, China and other countries have launched various projects for exploration and pilot production in both the land and offshore areas successively, while India and South Korea are actively making preparation for pilot production of marine gas hydrate. This paper intends to introduce the four historical stages of world-wide exploration and research of gas hydrate, and to elaborate the distribution of global gas hydrate resources and resource potential of major countries. Based on this, the paper will focus more on recent exploration and pilot production status in both China and other countries and their future trends, with the expectation that it will benefit the natural gas hydrate exploration test and research in China.