From the Portsmouth Herald:
Portsmouth, N.H. October 28, 2012 – Strategic Carbon LLC may be largely unknown to the general public, but it could be a major force as a global consulting firm in the energy sector.
Founded last year, Strategic Carbon has taken its time to create what it calls a “strategic network of world-class research institutions” to position itself as a leader in the fields of methane hydrate exploration, carbon sequestration and environmental assessing. The genesis for Strategic Carbon came from the combined efforts and the divergent talents of Rick Coffin, a research scientist with the Naval Research Library, and Kevin Stickney, co-founder and president of Portsmouth-based Calypso Communications, an energy and environmental issues management firm.
Stickney said that after spending years writing scores of business plans for, and developing the marketing brands of, many startup energy companies, he thought the timing was right to create a spinoff firm. Stickney and Coffin, a longtime acquaintance and world-renowned researcher based in Washington, D.C., moved to create a consulting firm to service the nascent but growing methane hydrate exploration sector.
The third partner is Louisiana-based Ross Downer, a deep-water drilling expert and principal with Milbar Hydro-Test Inc.
Calypso “has had this tremendous success over the past 12 years and my goal was to take it one step further,” Stickney said. “What’s on the horizon for energy development and what are the opportunities for energy entrepreneurs?”
Stickney said his discussions with Coffin led to the idea for a scientific-based consulting firm with global reach to service an energy sector poised to burst with activity.
Coffin said he is excited to transition from his post at the NRL to the private sector and begin helping companies and governments realize the potential of methane hydrate exploration, which many in the energy industry and the federal government believe is a possible game-changing natural gas energy source. According to U.S. Geological Survey estimates, natural gas from methane hydrate formations in the oceans could be two to three times the amount of current petroleum reserves.
“I have traveled the world and know who the best scientists are,” Coffin said. “This is a fantastic opportunity.”
Coffin said methane hydrate exploration has become a top priority in the energy development sector. In May, the U.S. Department of Energy trumpeted the completion of a joint project with Japan. The DOE called it a “successful, unprecedented test of technology in the North Slope of Alaska” to safely extract a steady flow of natural gas from methane hydrates, “a vast, entirely untapped resource that holds enormous potential for U.S. economic and energy security.” The DOE has launched a new research effort to conduct a long-term production test in the Arctic as well as research to test additional technologies that could be used to locate, characterize and safely extract methane hydrates on a larger scale in the U.S. Gulf Coast.
In August, the DOE announced the selection of 14 new research projects across 11 states with grants totaling $5.4 million. The DOE said the projects were designed to increase understanding of methane hydrates’ potential as a future energy supply. The University of New Hampshire received a $118,000 grant to study “dynamic response of gas hydrate systems and their potential impact on sea-floor stability, ocean ecology and global climate.”
Methane hydrates are 3D ice-lattice structures with natural gas locked inside. Methane hydrates, which form at low temperature and high pressure, are found in sea-floor sediments and the Arctic permafrost. Additionally, they can be scattered through several-hundred-meter depths and at various concentration.
Coffin and Stickney recently traveled to Norway for a series of meetings and to develop a strategic partnership with researchers at the University of Bergen and with the Norwegian Institute for Water Research. Stickney said the University of Bergen will help Strategic Carbon develop and test predictive models for deep-ocean sediment gas hydrate energy potential, carbon dioxide sequestration residence time, and environmental assessment, with specific focus on the Arctic.
The alliance with NIVA will lead to projects that fit the company’s multifunctional business profile — to assess deep-ocean sediment gas hydrate energy potential and carbon dioxide sequestration residence time and environmental impact. The Strategic Carbon/NIVA alliance will focus initially on NIVA programs in Norwegian waters, but will transition to global projects.
In the past year, Coffin and Stickney also have visited and made agreements with the University of Hawaii International Center for Climate and Society, the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute, Texas A&M University at Corpus Christi, and the University of Auckland, New Zealand.
“These collaborations support Strategic Carbon’s research, laboratory and development efforts, and will advance our understanding of carbon-based ecosystem and energy management,” Stickney said.
Coffin plans to join the firm full-time next August. Until then, Stickney said, they were laying the groundwork with research and industry partners, interested investors and potential clients.
“Our strategy is pretty simple,” he said. “We are taking our time and signing preliminary contracts that show real revenue. When we officially launch, we will be an important partner for environmental consulting firms, major oil and gas companies such as Shell and BP, and governments around the world such as Japan and New Zealand.”