Without changing our transportation fleet to Natural Gas, the US is expected to require very large imports in the future to meet our demands of Natural Gas. Adding transportation demands would only make this worse. Why would demanding on Russia and Qatar for our fuel be better than Saudi Arabia and Venezuela?
This is also based upon the drillers in the US being permitted to produce Natural Gas in quanity using methods not in widespread use today, including coalbed methane, tight sandstones, and gas shales.
A large proportion of the onshore lower 48 conventional natural gas resource base has been discovered. New reservoir discoveries are expected to be smaller and deeper, and thus more expensive and riskier to develop and produce. Much of the onshore lower 48 nonassociated (NA) conventional natural gas production in the reference case comes from existing large fields, as lower 48 NA onshore conventional natural gas production declines from 4.8 trillion cubic feet in 2004 to 4.2 trillion cubic feet in 2030 (Figure 73). Production of associated-dissolved (AD) natural gas from lower 48 crude oil reserves also declines, from 2.4 trillion cubic feet in 2004 to 2.3 trillion cubic feet in 2030.
Annual Energy Outlook 2006 with Projections to 2030, Oil and Natural Gas, EIA