China and Japan extract frozen fossil fuel from sea floor

Methane hydrate reserves could meet global gas demands for 80 to 800 years at current consumption rates.

Commercial development of the globe's huge reserves of a frozen fossil fuel known as "combustible ice" has moved closer to reality after Japan and China successfully extracted the material from the sea floor off their coastlines.

Combustible ice is a frozen mixture of water and concentrated natural gas. Technically known as methane hydrate, it can be lit on fire in its frozen state and is believed to be one of the world's most abundant fossil fuels.