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A GLOBAL OUTLOOK ON METHANE GAS HYDRATES
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components of society within the host country/region/com-
munity (Munda
et al.
1995; Spangenberg and Settele 2010).
Benefits from gas hydrate development would depend on a
range of factors. States might charge fees, taxes, and royal-
ties that could be reinvested locally. Gas hydrate development
might provide direct employment opportunities, depending
on the degree to which the administration, transport, and
technical operations were based locally. Employment could
be created directly in industries such as shipping, aviation,
warehousing, maintenance, construction, regulation, and
monitoring. Indirect employment – for example, in hospi-
tality, lodging, and provisioning industries – might result if
operations sourced goods and services locally. Operations
Photo: Yannick Beaudoin, GRID-Arendal
might also require the development of new infrastructure
(roads, ports, power plants), which could support needed in-
frastructure development in the host countries.
Companies might also provide direct philanthropic and
community-support services, such as health and education
services and, possibly, infrastructure to ensure local access
and use of the resource. A number of companies currently
engaged in oil and gas development are establishing skills-
building programs that provide vocational training to local
geologists, geophysicists, and environmental scientists, and
also support selected students pursuing post-secondary stud-
ies in related fields. Industry philanthropy, however, would
be case-specific, and the longevity of such activity is unclear.