Assessments of the available amounts of onshore and offshore hydrates have been given over the last twenty years. The first part of this paper evaluates all that is currently known about such estimates in respect of variations and also in respect of the date the estimate was made. The general conclusion is that the estimates have not yet stabilized with increasing amounts of information with time in respect of amount of hydrate resource.
The second part of the paper considers the basic physical properties of hydrates, ranging from density, speed of wave propagation, stability with respect to pressure and temperature, through to composition effects. The influence of these properties on detecting hydrates and also on their long-term stability is considered, particularly with respect to climate and sea level changes with time.
The third part of the paper considers an application to the offshore hydrates in the South Caspian basin, including the explosive hazard potential such hydrates provide and their ability to release copious amounts of methane into the atmosphere with time.
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