Natural Gas - How Much is There?

How Much Natural Gas is there?There is an abundance of natural gas in North America, but it is a non-renewable resource, the formation of which takes thousands and possibly millions of years. Therefore, understanding the availability of our supply of natural gas is important as we increase our use of this fossil fuel. This section will provide a framework for understanding just how much natural gas there is in the ground available for our use, as well as links to the most recent statistics concerning the available supply of natural gas. As natural gas is essentially irreplaceable (at least with current technology), it is important to have an idea of how much natural gas is left in the ground for us to use. However, this becomes complicated by the fact that no one really knows exactly how much natural gas exists until it is extracted. Measuring natural gas in the ground is no easy job, and it involves a great deal of inference and estimation. With new technologies, these estimates are becoming more and more reliable; however, they are still subject to revision. A common misconception about natural gas is that we are running out, and quickly. However, this couldn't be further from the truth. Many people believe that price spikes, seen in the 1970's, and more recently in the winter of 2000, indicate that we are running out of natural gas. The two aforementioned periods of high prices were not caused by waning natural gas resources - rather, there were other forces at work in the marketplace. In fact, there is a vast amount of natural gas estimated to still be in the ground. In order to understand exactly what these estimates mean, and their importance, it is useful first to learn a bit of industry terminology for the different types of estimates. The EIA provides classification system for natural gas resources. Unconventional natural gas reservoirs are also extremely important to the nation's supply of natural gas. U.S. Natural Gas Resource Estimates Below are three estimates of natural gas reserves in the United States. The first, compiled by theEnergy Information Administration (EIA), estimates that there are 1,747.47 Tcf of technically recoverable natural gas in the United States. This includes undiscovered, unproved, and unconventional natural gas. As seen from the table, proved reserves make up a very small proportion of the total recoverable natural gas resources in the U.S. Natural Gas Technically Recoverable Resources Natural Gas Resource Category (Trillion Cubic Feet) As of January 1, 2007   Nonassociated Gas   Undiscovered 373.20   Onshore 113.61   Offshore 259.59 Inferred Reserves 220.14   Onshore 171.05   Offshore 49.09 Unconventional Gas Recovery 644.92   Tight Gas 309.58   Shale Gas 267.26   Coalbed Methane 68.09 Associated-Dissolved Gas 128.69 Total Lower 48 Unproved 1366.96 Alaska 169.43 Total U.S. Unproved 1536.38 Proved Reserves 211.09   Total Natural Gas 1747.47 Source: Energy Information Administration - Annual Energy Outlook 2009 READ MORE HERE