Iran Finds Gas Hydrate Reserves in Sea of Oman

Iran announced on Monday that it has discovered giant gas hydrate reservoirs in the Sea of Oman, Fars News Agency has reported.

"Based on the latest studies in the Sea of Oman region which spreads from the West of the Persian Gulf to the Eastern part of the country, we have discovered gas hydrate reservoirs equal to the country's proven oil and gas reserves," CEO of the project for the exploration of the Sea of Oman's gas hydrate resources, Nasser Keshavarz, said at a press conference in Tehran.

He underlined profitability of using gas hydrates along with fossil fuels to manufacture energy and heat, and said, "After exploitation, every cubic meter of gas hydrates will produce heat equal to the output of 164 cubic meters of gas."

Clathrate hydrates (or gas hydrates) are crystalline water-based solids physically resembling ice, in which small non-polar molecules (typically gases) or polar molecules with large hydrophobic moieties are trapped inside 'cages' of hydrogen bonded water molecules.