 As of 2009, ConocoPhillips is working on a trial on the Alaska North Slope with the US Department of Energy to release methane in this way, (ConocoPhilips, January 2010, New Scientist, no.2714, p. 33).At first glance, it seems that the thermodynamic conditions there favor the existence of hydrates, yet given that the pressure is created by sea water rather than by CO2, the hydrate will decompose.