Lecture

📖 📖 LECTURE — Open to the Public

Offshore Methane Hydrates - The Biggest Hidden Issue in Energy Law

Thu., Jan. 21, 2021 I 04:00 pm — 05:00 pm (CST)
Venue: Online 💻. University of Houston Law Center — Environment, Energy and Natural Resources Center.
Roy Andrew Partain, Ph.D. Chair Professor. University of Aberdeen’s School of Law.
Victor B. Flatt, J.D. Dwight Olds Chair and Professor of Law Dir. of Environment, Energy and Natural Resources Center. University of Houston Law Center.
Aubin Nzaou-Kongo, Ph.D.
Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellow in Law and Energy Policy. Environment, Energy and Natural Resources Center.
University of Houston Law Center.
Overview: Offshore methane hydrates are a natural resource found offshore almost every coastline in the world. They are a unique resource that offers both methane and fresh water volumes to its producers. OMH reservoirs can also work as carbon sinks. Combining methane, freshwater, and carbon sinks can enable a ready opportunity for Blue Hydrogen production. And the scale of these assets, well, estimates in the literature suggest we may be facing a 100-fold increase in available natural gas; stated differently, the ‘prodution peak’ might now be decades or centuries away.
But for all that promise, there are substantial policy and legal questions for researchers. What about the carbon emissions from these volumes? What about the risks to the oceans? What about man-made tsunamis and the risks of drowning major cities like Dhaka, Lagos, Hong Kong, or New Orleans? And what of the implications for oceanic jurisdictions in areas of conflict, like the South China Seas?
This presentation will attempt to introduce OMH to students and scholars, to introduce the policy motives that are driving major players to bring OMH to commercial viability, and of the potential risks and hazards, and of the outstanding legal research questions that need urgent answers from a broader community of stakeholders.

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