Prof. George Moridis and Dr. Keni Zhang, who is respectively a Research Area Leader and a Senior Research Fellow at the Earth Sciences Division of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), USA, were invited to have a visit in Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion (GIEC) and Guangzhou Center for Gas Hydrate Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, during March 20-22, 2009.

Prof. Moridis received Ph.D. degree from Texas A&M University, College Station Texas in 1987.  He has been a Staff Scientist in the Earth Sciences Division of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, California, since 1991. At LBNL, he is the Research Area Leader for Transport and Thermodynamics, is in charge of the LBNL research programs on (a) hydrates and (b) tight gas, and (c) leads the development of the new generation of LBNL codes for the simulation of flow and transport in the subsurface.  He is an adjunct professor of the Petroleum Engineering Dept. of Texas A&M University (Texas, USA), of the Chemical Engineering Dept. of the Colorado School of Mines (Colorado, USA), and of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering Dept. of the Middle East Technical University (Ankara, Turkey).  He is the author and co-author of 40 papers in peer-reviewed journals, of over 130 LBNL reports and book articles, and of 2 patents. He is a SPE Distinguished Lecturer for the 2009-2010.

During the visit, Director’s Assistant of GIEC, Mr. Changlong Xie, introduced the basic profile and the research fields at GIEC for Prof. Moridis, and Dr. Zhouyu Zhou, the Director of the Department of Science and Technology, Dr. Nengyou Wu, Dr. Xiaoseng Li, and Dr. Deqing Liang, who are the professors of the Guangzhou Center for Gas Hydrate Research, took part in the discussion. Then they discussed about the hot topics of gas hydrate researches and the possibility of the future collaboration. 　

After the discussion, Dr. Moridis gave a presentation with the topic “Numerical, Laboratory and Field Studies of Gas Production From Hydrate Deposits in Geologic Media”, and Dr. Zhang gave a presentation with the topic “Evaluation of the Gas Production Potential of Marine Hydrate Deposits in the Ulleung Basin of the Korean East Sea”, in which the advantages, current research situation and key technologies about gas hydrate production and evaluation were introduced.  Afterwards, Dr. Moridis visited in the Center for Gas Hydrate Research at GIEC, and gave a great appreciation for the research achievements in gas hydrate at GIEC.  Prof. Nengyou WU, who is the Chief Scientist of Guangzhou Center for Gas Hydrate Research, gave a presentation with the topic “CGHR Overview; Progress of Gas Hydrate Investigation in Northern SCS” to introduce the research progress of gas hydrate in the northern South China Sea. Respectively, on Numerical and Experimental Modeling of Gas Hydrate Production, and Numerical Modeling of Venting Dynamics of Gas-Fluid in Gas Hydrate System, Dr. Gang Li and Dr. Zheng Su gave presentations to introduction their research progress and discuss the problem and further program what they will do and how to do.

During the visit, Dr. Moridis gave many valuable and constructive comments on the gas hydrate researches at GIEC. The academic communication with both sides lays the substantial foundation for the collaboration in the future.  Based on the discussion and exchange, Prof. Moridis and Prof. WU have got the common view on the cooperation on the numerical modeling research of gas hydrate production in the South China Sea and the training graduate students and young scientists between Guangzhou Center for Gas Hydrate Research, CAS, China and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, USA .

　　　　　　　　　　 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 (Daidai Wu, Center for Gas Hydrate Research)