The Third Meeting of International Science Committeefor8th International Conference on Gas Hydrate (ICGH8-2014) was Held in Guangzhou during Dec. 1st to Dec. 4th, 2013.

Co-sponsored by China Geological Survey and Chinese Academy of Sciences, the meeting was undertaken by Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion, CAS (GIEC) and presided by Prof. WU Nengyou who is the deputy director of GIEC and also deputy secretary-general of ICGH8. Altogether 25 participants attended the meeting, including 12 International Science Committee members, ie Prof. Richard CHAPMAN from BP Engineering Research Center, Prof. Sung-Rock LEE from Korea Institute of Geology, Mining and Materials, Prof. LI Xiaoyun from Norway Statoil ASA Company, Prof. Char-Shine Liu from National Taiwan University, Prof. LU Hailong from National Research Council Canada, Prof. Ryo MATSUMOTO from Meiji University, Prof. Dendy SLOAN from Colorado School of Mines, Prof. Erwin SUESS from Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Prof. Bahman TOHIDI from Heriot-Watt University, Academician ZENG Hengyi from China National Offshore Oil Corp., and Prof. ZHANG Hongtao who is counselor of the State Council from China Geological Survey.

During the meeting, the experts reviewed the 619 abstracts having been collected and talked through important issues of ICGH8 such as the its overall agenda and session arrangement, name list of conference invited speakers, each session’s chair, speakers and posters, the Gas Hydrate Lifetime Achievement Award Winner, and Donald W. Davidson Winner.

Being an important conference to demonstrate the advanced progress related to gas hydrate, International Conference on Gas Hydrate plays a critical role in the field of gas hydrates. There were only 130 attendees in 1993, ICGH 1, with 61 abstracts, till 2011 it became 620 participants and 602 abstracts. ICGH8 will provide a great platform for hydrate community to present the new achievements, exchange the initial ideas and announce the peer-reviewed researches. The conference will further promote the exploration, exploitation and utilization of gas hydrates.

The International Science Committee members also paid a visit to Natural Gas Hydrate Research Lab of GIEC, which is also the Gas Hydrate Research Centre of CAS. They highly appreciated GIEC’s self-designed experiment simulation equipment, testing facilities, and abundant talent resource, thus acknowledging GIEC as a key research base in natural gas hydrate in the international arena.

Co-sponsored by China Geological Survey and Chinese Academy of Sciences, ICGH8 will be held from July 28th to August 1st, 2014 in Beijing. Specific information may refer to its website: www.icgh8.org.