Taiwan and Germany will cooperate on a gas hydrates research project studying the seabed off Taiwan’s southeastern coast for possible exploitation of the ice-like mineral as a future energy source, the German Institute Taipei said March 26.
In collaboration with the ROC National Science Council and researchers from National Taiwan University, the German research ship “Sonne” of the Geomar Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel will begin a five-week expedition to the South China Sea off Taiwan.
“Before we can think of commercialization, the basic properties of gas hydrates have to be fully understood,” Michael Zickerick, director general of the German Institute Taipei, said.
“With the Sonne’s test drillings off the coast of Taiwan, the biggest Taiwan-German research project is an important contribution to secure our future energy supply.”
Geomar chief geoscientist Christian Berndt said global interest in the extraction of gas hydrates is high because it could be a possible substitute for natural gas, but many fundamental questions about the deposits have yet to be answered.
He added that the research project also hopes to better understand the role of plate tectonics in the formation of gas hydrates and obtain estimates of the gas reserves in the seafloor. The site near Taiwan was chosen because it is where the Eurasian and Philippine Sea plates converge.
A news conference and reception is scheduled for March 30 in Kaohsiung Harbor to celebrate the “Sonne” docking. The event will be attended by Mirko Kruppa, deputy director-general of the German Institute Taipei, Lo Ching-hua, NTU vice president, Sun Chi-peng from the Kaohsiung City Marine Bureau and Wayne Wang, director of the NSC Department of Planning and Evaluation. (SDH)
Write to Rachel Chan at ccchan@mofa.gov.tw