In February 2005 I visited Pyongyang in North Korea for several days on oil and gas exploration business, and whilst there went on a short field trip to visit a known natural gas seepage in order to collect samples of the gas for geochemical analysis. I had sampled oil and minor amounts of gas in the autumn, but in winter larger volumes of gas become trapped under a thick layer of frozen river ice. The ice was about 1 foot thick, and provided a convenient means for local people to travel to nearby villages by bicycle as well as a shortcut across the river.
Besides being used by local people for ice fishing, the ice provided great entertainment for the local teenage boys who would fashion ice mono-skates from old cutlery knives attached to blocks of wood, and propel themselves along at great speed using sticks with nails in the end for leverage much like a cross country skier.
Walking across the ice was quite nerve wracking at first – there were many pressure cracks and ridges where the ice had fractured or had been compressed. More terrifying though were the occasional cracks like a pistol shot that rang out as we traversed the ice looking for gas pockets. One would be walking quite gingerly, and suddenly there would be a sharp cracking sound, and a massive fracture crack extending for maybe several hundred metres would appear at one’s feet!
We found plenty of trapped methane gas beneath the ice, and managed to collect enough volume to be able to bring a sufficient quantity back to a laboratory in the UK for subsequent analysis. The gas was indeed of thermogenic origin hinting at potentially commercial gas deposits in the subsurface, which could be vital to help solve North Korea’s lack of power generating capacity. Sadly despite various attempts, there is as yet still no confirmed established production of indigenous oil or gas in North Korea.