This Week in Petroleum

The Energy Information Agency of the Department of Energy ^ | October 22, 2008 | Energy Information Agency

[LOC1]

On October 16, EIA reported the good news that the United States increased its proved reserves of crude oil by 2 percent in 2007. The even better news was in natural gas where the United States added more than twice as much in proved reserves as it produced in 2007 and ended the year with a highest total proved reserves since at least 1977, when EIA first estimated proved reserves.

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It was the ninth consecutive year in which reserves grew, but the growth was more than twice as much as in any other year since EIA began estimating proved reserves in 1977. The record additions mostly reflect the rapid development of unconventional natural gas resources made up of coalbed methane and resources like shale and tight, low permeability, formations that use advanced technologies like horizontal drilling with hydraulic fracturing.

U.S. natural gas production grew by 9 percent between the first 7 months of 2007 and the first 7 months in 2008.

The increased production in the United States meant that the country has needed to import less natural gas in 2008 than in 2007, especially in the form of LNG. For the first 7 months of 2008, LNG imports fell by 64 percent compared with the same period in 2007.

To get an idea of how important the growth of domestic natural gas production has been, one could calculate how much more it would have cost to buy LNG instead. For the first 7 months of the year, LNG would have cost about $4 billion more than the new U.S. production, given the prevailing prices actually observed at the time. The savings were probably even more pronounced in August and September, when U.S. natural gas prices fell and LNG prices in Asia rose.

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[LOC1]

Follow link for embedded graphs including US gasoline and diesel prices, which have fallen dramatically.

This is what happens when we develop US energy resources. We have already saved $4 Billion dollars by reducing imported natural gas.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Panhandle Eastern is moving $2.00 MM gas in Chateau, OK.