USA has more gas that was thought

[Eugene Coyle <eugenecoyle@xxxxxxx>]

Natural gas reserve estimates in the USA suddenly have gone up.  Despite the claims of some that soon the gas would be gone.

Gene Coyle

Natural Gas: 82 Years Left at Current Rate of Depletion. By Katherine Ling, E&E News, September 13, 2007, subscription. "Improved technology helped increase potential U.S. natural gas reserve estimates by 17 percent in two years, an industry group reported today. The United States had an estimated 1,525 trillion cubic feet of gas at the end of 2006 -- enough to last 82 years at current production rates, the Potential Gas Committee's biannual report said. The committee draws its 105 members from the natural gas industry, government agencies and academia... The United States uses about 23 trillion cubic feet of natural gas a year, but it produces 19 trillion cubic feet. The rest is drawn from imports, mostly from Canada... Advances in technology and experience continue to augment U.S. reserves. The large growth in reserves was largely due to 'improved gas prices, technology and understanding of the resources,' especially in extracting natural gas from shale and coal seams, said John Curtis, director of the Potential Gas Agency at the Colorado School of Mines, which guides and assists the committee."