Potential Gas Committee reports unprecedented increase in magnitude of U.S. natural gas resource base

Colorado School of Mines has estimated the amount of gas that might be developed in the U.S. Golden, Colorado, June 18, 2009.

The Potential Gas Committee (PGC) today released the results of its latest biennial assessment of the nation’s natural gas resources, which indicates that the United States possesses a total resource base of 1,836 trillion cubic feet (Tcf). This is the highest resource evaluation in the Committee’s 44-year history. Most of the increase from the previous assessment arose from reevaluation of shale-gas plays in the Appalachian basin and in the Mid-Continent, Gulf Coast and Rocky Mountain areas.

“The PGC’s year-end 2008 assessment reaffirms the Committee’s conviction that abundant, recoverable natural gas resources exist within our borders, both onshore and offshore, in all types of reservoirs,” said Dr. John B. Curtis, Professor of Geology and Geological Engineering at the Colorado School of Mines and Director of the Potential Gas Agency there, which provides guidance and technical assistance to the Potential Gas Committee.

Dr. Curtis cautioned, however, that the current assessment assumes neither a time schedule nor a specific market price for the discovery and production of future gas supply. “Estimates of the Potential Gas Committee are ‘base-line estimates’ in that they attempt to provide a reasonable appraisal of what we consider to be the ‘technically recoverable’ gas resource potential of the United States,” he explained.
Colorado School of Mines has estimated the amount of gas that might be developed in the U.S. Golden, Colorado, June 18, 2009.

See also: U.S Energy Information Administration. (2009). Annual Energy Outlook Early Release Overwiew.

Key Issues

Important energy issues addressed in the Annual Energy Outlook 2000 (AEO2000) include, among others, the ongoing restructuring of U.S. electricity markets, near-term prospects for world oil markets, and the impacts of energy use on carbon emissions.

AEO2000 reflects the restructuring of U.S. electricity markets and the shift to increased competition by assuming changes in the financial structure of the industry. Ongoing efficiency and operating improvements are also assumed to continue. The projections assume a transition to full competitive pricing in States with specific deregulation plans—California, New York, New England, the Mid-Atlantic States, Illinois, Texas, Michigan, Ohio, Arizona, and New Mexico. Other States are assumed to continue cost-of-service electricity pricing. The provisions of the California legislation regarding stranded cost recovery and price caps are included. In other regions, stranded cost recovery is assumed to be phased out by 2008.

A national renewable portfolio standard has been proposed in the Comprehensive Electricity Competition Act, but it has not been enacted and is not included in the projections. State standards are included as enacted. Although AEO99 included new proposed standards for control of nitrogen oxide (NO_x) by electricity generators, those standards have been challenged in court, are currently suspended, and are not included in AEO2000.

World oil prices fell sharply throughout most of 1997 and 1998, in part because of the economic recession in East Asia. Recently, economic recovery in that region and actions by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to restrain oil production have resulted in higher world oil prices, which are included in the oil market analysis and world oil price projections in AEO2000.

Although growth in carbon emissions in 1998 was slower than in previous years, emissions are projected to remain at levels similar to those projected in AEO99, as the demand for energy continues to grow.
U.S Energy Information Administration. (2009). Annual Energy Outlook Early Release Overwiew.