CHINA SUCCEEDS IN COMBUSTIBLE ICE MINING

CHINA HAS SUCCEEDEDin collecting samples of combustible ice in the South China Sea, Minister of Land and Resources Jiang Daming said in Guangzhou on May 18.

This is China's first success in mining combustible ice at sea, after nearly two decades of research and exploration.

Combustible ice usually exists in seabed or tundra areas, which have the strong pressure and low temperature necessary for its stability. It can be ignited like solid ethanol, which is why it is called "combustible ice."

One cubic meter of combustible ice, a kind of natural gas hydrate, is equal to 164 cubic meters of regular natural gas. International scientific circles have predicted that the natural gas hydrate is the best replacement for oil and natural gas.

Workers celebrate the extraction of natural gas from combustible ice on a drilling platform on the South China Sea.