US sitting on 100 year supply of gas

Washington Post:

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As a result, said BP chief executive Tony Hayward, "the picture has changed dramatically."

"The United States is sitting on over 100 years of gas supply at the current rates of consumption," he said. Because natural gas emits half the greenhouse gases of coal, he added, that "provides the United States with a unique opportunity to address concerns about energy security and climate change."

Recoverable U.S. gas reserves could now be bigger than the immense gas reserves of Russia, some experts say. The Marcellus shale formation, stretching across swaths of Pennsylvania, New York and West Virginia, has enough gas to meet the entire nation's needs for at least 14 years, according to an estimate by two Pennsylvania State University experts. Just in Broome County, N.Y., where Fitzsimmons lives, shale gas development could create $15 billion in economic activity, according to consultants hired by the county.

The country is carpeted with shale gas plays, including the Barnett in Texas, Fayetteville in Arkansas and Haynesville in Louisiana. Since 2000, gas from shale has grown from less than 1 percent of the nation's production to about 10 percent, according to the consulting firm PFC Energy, and it's picking up fast.

That's changing the energy and economic landscape from Broome County to the Gulf of Mexico. It could mean lower prices and reassurance to homeowners who heat with gas, or towns and companies with vehicle fleets running on the fuel. As winter begins, the price of natural gas is about a third of the level it was 14 months ago. Storage facilities are bursting.

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Historically, most of the natural gas produced in the United States came from relatively small pockets in porous rock. The oil and gas industry has been "eternally searching for relatively small traps," Nichols said. Shale, by contrast, is widespread and hard to miss. "Devon has drilled 4,000 wells in the Barnett and is planning 4,000 more, at least. And we have not drilled a dry hole," Nichols said.

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The anti energy left is still opposing this significant increase in US energy supplies. The environmental wackos find reasons to oppose natural gas even though it creates half the CO2 of coal which it would replace. Never mind, the fact that it is also reducing dependence on imported gas.

Another benefit of natural gas is that it can be cheaply transported through pipelines. If it were used as fuel for vehicles this would immediately reduce the need to transport ethanol which currently drives up the cost of fuel for vehicles.

I plan to do an API tour of the Barnett shale facilities in the coming months. Global cooling has caused some early snow in that part of Texas in recent days.