Stranded gas is a

natural gas field A petroleum reservoir or oil and gas reservoir is a subsurface accumulation of hydrocarbons contained in porous or fractured rock formations. Such reservoirs form when kerogen (ancient plant matter) is created in surrounding rock by the presence ...

that has been discovered, but remains unusable for either physical or

economic An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with th ...

reasons. Gas found in an

oil well An oil well is a drillhole boring in Earth that is designed to bring petroleum oil hydrocarbons to the surface. Usually some natural gas is released as associated petroleum gas along with the oil. A well that is designed to produce only gas ma ...

is generally called associated gas rather than stranded gas but some flared gases from oil wells are stranded gases that are unusable due to economic reasons.

Economically stranded gas

144px, Methane is the dominant component of natural gas. A volume of gas can be economically stranded because it is remote from a market for natural gas, making construction of a pipeline prohibitively expensive. Gases are expensive to transport over long distances, especially on scale. One obvious solution to this problem is to convert the gas (mainly methane) into liquid fuels such as

methanol Methanol (also called methyl alcohol and wood spirit, amongst other names) is an organic chemical and the simplest aliphatic alcohol, with the formula C H3 O H (a methyl group linked to a hydroxyl group, often abbreviated as MeOH). It is ...

, which would be easier to transport. Despite intensive efforts, methods for the conversion of methane to methanol have not been established. The crux of the problem is that the partial oxidation of methane to methanol is rapidly followed by further oxidation of methanol to carbon dioxide, i.e. complete combustion.

John Kerry John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician and diplomat who currently serves as the first United States special presidential envoy for climate. A member of the Forbes family and the Democratic Party, he ...

said in 2022 that new investments in gas exploration and production - such as in Africa - risked stranding.

Physically stranded gas

A gas field that is too deep to drill for, or is beneath an obstruction, may be considered physically stranded. Continuous development of drilling technology provides access to many difficult-to-access fields.

Locations of stranded gas

Alaska

Alaska has a large resource of natural gas stranded in its

Prudhoe Bay oil field Prudhoe Bay Oil Field is a large oil field on Alaska's North Slope. It is the largest oil field in North America, covering and originally containing approximately of oil.

. The largest gas plant in the United States exists there exclusively to reinject the associated gas into the oil fields. Marketing of the gas awaits the completion of the Alaska gas pipeline to carry it to the lower 48 states. Building of the pipeline has been delayed by the availability of low-cost natural gas in Canada and development of non-conventional gas fields in the lower 48 states, as well as political considerations.

Canada

Canada has a large amount of stranded gas in its Arctic Islands,

Beaufort Sea The Beaufort Sea (; french: Mer de Beaufort, Iñupiaq: ''Taġiuq'') is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located north of the Northwest Territories, the Yukon, and Alaska, and west of Canada's Arctic islands. The sea is named after Sir ...

, and Mackenzie Delta. Marketing of this gas would require completion of the

Mackenzie Valley Pipeline The Mackenzie Valley Pipeline, also called the Mackenzie River Pipeline, was a proposed project to transport natural gas from the Beaufort Sea through Canada's Northwest Territories to tie into gas pipelines in northern Alberta. The project was ...

to bring it south along the Mackenzie River. Some companies would like to combine it with Alaska gas by building a pipeline offshore in the

Arctic Ocean The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceans. It spans an area of approximately and is known as the coldest of all the oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, a ...

from Alaska to the Mackenzie Delta. The government of Alaska is resisting such option because it would prefer to bring the gas first to southern Alaska, and then transport it across the

Yukon Yukon (; ; formerly called Yukon Territory and also referred to as the Yukon) is the smallest and westernmost of Canada's three territories. It also is the second-least populated province or territory in Canada, with a population of 43,964 as ...

along the

Alaska Highway