Comprehensive Report of Phase 2 & 3 Research ResultsIIntroduction"Research Consortium for Methane Hydrate Resources in Japan" (also known as MH21) is anindustry-government-academia collaboration research group. Established in FY2001 by Japan Oil, Gas andMetals National Corporation (JOGMEC) and the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science andTechnology (AIST), its purpose was to undertake research into the future of commercial development ofmethane hydrates in Japanese waters for use as a domestic fuel energy resource in accordance with "Japan'sMethane Hydrate R&D Program", a program that was announced in July 2001 with funding from theJapanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. It carried out the R&D activities of both phases 2(Japanese fiscal year* (FY) 2009-2015) and 3 (FY 2016-FY2018).

During the study term, events such as the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake and the subsequent temporal
termination of nuclear power plant operations, the sudden rise and fall of oil and gas prices, the shale gas
revolution, advancement of measures to provide against global warming and the introduction of renewableenergies, as well as other factors have jolted the Japanese socio-economic structure in terms of energy.
However, little has changed in the fundamentals. Japan is still heavily dependent on imports of primaryenergy.
From the start of the project, the primary objective has been expressed in the following terms: “Methane
hydrate, of which substantial amounts are expected to reside offshore Japan, is positioned to be a futureenergy resource, thus impelling advances in technological developments such as the drilling, production
and recovery of methane hydrate on an economical basis in order to enable future utilization that willcontribute to the acquisition of a long-term, and stable supply of energy.”

In order to assist in the achievement of this objective, R&D work on the technologies required for fielddevelopment, resource estimation, production, and environmental assessments have been carried out on an
ongoing basis. Consequent to this, many new findings have been acquired and knowledge obtained.
Significant achievements have been the successful implementation of the 1st and 2nd offshore production
tests as per the initial objective. However, there are a remaining number of both technical and non-technicalissues to be overcome. For this reason, further R&D work still needs to be carried out.

During Phase 2 and 3, three groups have been leading the research program and have carried out offshore
gas production tests on two separate occasions. These have been the Group of Administrative Coordination,
Research Group for Field Development Technology, Research Group for Production Method and Modeling,
and Research Group for Resources Assessment.

This comprehensive report details the processes and achievements of the program together with remaining
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Comprehensive Report of Phase 2 & 3 Research Results

issues that are needed to promote public understanding of methane hydrate extraction and suggests
directions for further studies.
* Japanese fiscal year (FY) begins on April 1st of the stated year and ends on March 31st of the followingyear.

References
Japan’s Methane Hydrate R&D Program Phase 1 Comprehensive Report of Research Results
http://www.mh21japan.gr.jp/mh21wp/wp-content/uploads/phase1_200808_english.pdf

Implementation plan for phase 2
http://www.mh21japan.gr.jp/english/wp/wp-content/uploads/c78678339b1ca272c59cb2b006dd244a1.pdf

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