A bibliometric analysis of two-decade research efforts in turning natural gas hydrates into energy

As a promising energy source, natural gas hydrate production has ignited scientific research in multidisciplinary fields globally, generating a vast amount of literature. A review in multidisciplinary and international perspectives will contribute to a comprehensive understanding about this field. This paper maps the two-decade spatiotemporal landscapes of scientific research on natural gas hydrate (NGH) production with a bibliometric analysis. The landscapes suggested that the study on gas hydrate production covers multiple research fields and international collaboration. Research topics on NGH production experienced three stages involving resource exploration, productivity enhancement, and environmental issues. An analysis of the research with the most activity showed that Energy & Fuel, Chemical Engineering, and Multidisciplinary Geoscience were the most active, with Thermodynamics, Geological Engineering, Ocean Engineering, and Civil Engineering experiencing fast growth. In terms of the landscape of international collaboration, the United States and European countries were the main contributors in the early stage, followed by China after 2008. The breakthrough of the commercial production threshold relies on the international collaboration and the multidisciplinary research among Thermodynamics, Geological Engineering, Ocean Engineering and Civil Engineering to characterize the energy consumption, gas production rate, and reservoir stability.