The United States Geological Survey has made periodic assessments of the world's conventional oil and gas endowment since the oil shocks of the 1970s. These indications suggest that there are serious flaws in the study. It is a matter of grave concern because the world is now approaching the peak of conventional oil production. It is important therefore that the claims of the USGS be subject to close scrutiny, lest they be given an undeserved credibility in the formulation of government policy. Demand and price are influenced by the belief in the availability of future oil and gas.
Methane hydrates are well known to the oil industry as a material that clogs pipelines and casing.
They are also present in permafrost areas and in the oceans where the necessary temperature and pressure conditions for stability occur. Claims for the widespread occurrence in thick oceanic deposits are unfounded. Being a solid, methane in oceanic hydrates cannot migrate and accumulate in deposits sufficiently large to be commercially exploited. Published estimates of the size of the resource are highly unreliable and give flawed comparisons with conventional fossil fuels. Offshore , August 1999 and September 1999.