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`Combustible ice'

BEIJING: China has successfully excavated combustible ice — a kind of natural gas hydrate — from below the floor of the South China Sea after nine years of research in this field, a senior official said here on Tuesday. The development could ease China's energy dependence on oil and coal. Zhang Hongtao, deputy director of the China Geological Survey Bureau, told a press conference that China had succeeded in collecting samples of combustible ice from the northern part of the South China Sea, making China the fourth country in the world after the United States, Japan and India to succeed in this field. A survey shows that the volume of natural gas hydrate in the researched area could be equivalent to 10 billion tonnes of oil. Natural gas hydrate is formed by natural gas and water in conditions of high pressure and low temperature. — Xinhua

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