The US Department of Energy will grant US $2 million to help fund five research efforts leading to the safe production of methane hydrates. The US Geological Survey calculated the US hydrate resource at the equivalent of 200,000 Tcf of gas, or almost a 10,000-year supply at current use rates. The research partners will put up another $1.3 million for their projects. Among research topics are advanced production concepts, improvement of seismic data to identify hydrates, the examination of the stability of hydrate-bearing sediments under varying conditions and attempt to determine the effect of hydrates on the earth's climate.