From Exploration to Production: A Systematic Review of Natural Gas Hydrate Technologies

As a strategic energy source with huge potential, the commercial development of natural gas hydrate (NGH) is a complex issue concerning the future energy landscape and maritime security. This article aims to systematically sort out the research progress of the entire chain from resource exploration to development and trial production in this field, and dialectically analyze the dual attributes of coexisting energy potential and engineering risks. This article systematically reviews the exploration technology system centered on geophysics, geochemistry, and drilling, as well as the evolution of resource evaluation methods. Furthermore, the support of basic research, such as the hydrate accumulation mechanism and simulation experiments for engineering practice, was explored. By analyzing global trial production cases, the advantages and disadvantages of different mining methods were compared, and core safety challenges, such as geological instability and methane leakage, were distilled. This article ultimately points out that the current development of NGH still faces technical challenges, and the future development will achieve a development system of "multi-technology-driven + multi-objective coordination + intelligent self-adaptation." This article aims to provide a systematic reference framework for the scientific research and commercialization strategy of NGH.