Stranded gas reserve

A stranded gas reserve is a natural gas field that has been discovered, but remains unusable for either physicial or economic reasons. Gas that is found within oil wells is conventionally regarded as associated gas and has historically been flared. It is also now sometimes recirculated back into oil wells in order to maintain extraction pressure or converted into electricity using gas powered engines.

Economically Stranded Gas
A reserve of gas can be economically stranded for one of two reasons.
 * The reserve may be too remote from a market for natural gas, hence making the construction of pipelines prohibitively expensive.
 * The reserve may be in a region where demand for gas is saturated, and the cost of exporting gas beyond this region is too great. These are the most likely to be tapped in the future when existing sources begin to run out.

Physically Stranded Gas
A gas field that is too deep to drill for, or is beneath an obstruction may be considered physically stranded despite access being desirable. Continual evolution of drilling technology has progressively unlocked access to many hard to access fields.