K.J. Rodgers
Crownsville, Maryland  

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Estimates have been released that show our natural gas reserves are up by tens of trillions over 2014 estimates; enough to last 104 years. 

Natural gas is changing the world. It is leading to a world-wide change in mentality as more and more countries are deciding to use it over coal and oil to power their own economic growth. China, Korea, and Brazil all have increased their focus on natural gas to help ensure their citizens are endowed with power and industry that leads to more prosperity. The U.S., a favored underdog, has risen to the top of the pack and by all guesses, we’re here to stay.

The natural gas industry in the U.S. has overcome a lot of odds to rise to the top. We have allowed capitalism to work by letting the private sector simply do its thing (compete); thus clearing the way for new technologies, increasing demand for labor, giving laborers new high-paying jobs and growing our economy. We have done so while facing fierce and unfair competition from a cartel of international suppliers with horrendous human rights records and run by outrageous dictatorships.

The natural gas industry has given rise to a new America, one that proves that grit, hard work, and public education can all work together to reenergize the American dream for many. This is all also due to a little luck; being home to shale formations with one heck of lot of natural gas.

I know that the last sentence is a little cheeky, but it’s true. We didn’t know how true, as these natural gas reserves were unreachable before fracking was combined with horizontal drilling. We didn’t really what we had. A new combination of technologies and grit made it possible to reach these reserves and the more those technologies improve, interestingly enough, so does our supply.

A new assessment of our recoverable gas reserves has been released, and it is huge. We are at a 52-year high. We have surpassed the highest estimates from 2014 by tens of trillions, making the latest estimates by the Potential Gas Committee up to 2,817 trillion cubic feet (Tcf). To gain a better idea of what this number means, the Washington Examiner said this equates to 500 trillion barrels of crude oil. Another way to imagine this visual to drive home what a trillion is, take a trillion dollars, what does that look like?

Compare this number to OPEC’s share of world crude oils reserves of 1,216.78 billion barrels.

The United States consumed 27.5 Tfc of natural gas last year. With these kinds of reserves and our current consumption rate, we have enough gas to last 104 years and the reserves keep growing.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) projects that the U.S. will be a major exporter of natural gas by 2022 (though I see us as that already) and be on par to challenge Australia and Qatar. Dr Fatih Birol, the IEA’s Executive Director, stated in a press release:

“The US shale revolution shows no sign of running out of steam and its effects are now amplified by a second revolution of rising LNG supplies”

The global gas demand will have a year-over-year increase of 1.6% over the next five years reaching a 4,000 billion cubic meters by 2022. With the increased LNG production and exports, we can be looking at supplying even more countries (e.g., Pakistan, Thailand, Jordan, according to their statement).

When you think about how emissions are now at a 25-year low as natural gas has displaced fuels such as coal and oil, you can see the astounding positive environmental impacts natural gas production is having in the U.S. When we become a world leader in exports, this is going to magnify the reasons why the Paris Accord was a wash. Contrary to the ludicrous comments made by Bill Nye we don’t need to wait for older people to ‘die’ off for us to advance our progress on climate change.

Natural gas is the foundation of our country’s future. It will even make it possible to advance solar and wind by offering a clean way to generate baseload power for these sources to complement; not to mention lifting the oppressive hand of other countries off of others who depend on natural gas (e.g., Ukraine). Natural gas is here to stay and it should give us all a great deal of comfort for future generations.