One has to remember the natural gas saga.
At one point gas was selling for $14 + per million cubic feet. Producers thought they could print money until 2008.
Now natural gas is selling for around $3. Yet the industry thrives because it has become more of a manufacturing business model. It anticipates a price, locked in with derivatives; then drills just enough new holes, or enhances existing holes to meet commitments accurately anticipating costs. No longer is it speculating.
Oil has just made this transition. More difficult since foreign producing entities less predictable.
However, there may be increased demand for natural gas for another reason: it can be used to make motor fuels like gasoline and diesel fuel. New catalytic crackers are now in development that could make the gas to liquid (GTL) conversion really cheap, and that could mean North America’s gigantic gas reserves could be used to make clean-burning forms of gasoline and diesel fuel at very low prices.