The Energy Information Administration (EIA) has issued its overview of the U.S. - International natural gas trade for 2008. It finds, for example, "In 2008 there was a 9 percent decrease in net imports from Canada. Despite this decrease Canadian pipeline imports continued to account for the vast majority of U.S. natural gas imports." A sample chart:
For more, see here.
The Natural Gas Supply Association has calculated that 25 percent of U.S. natural gas demand could be met by shales located in Appalachia, the Barnett Permian Basin of Texas and elsewhere in the U.S. A copy of the statement can be found here.
A new U.S. Geological Survey study released by the Interior Department estimates that there is 85.4 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered, technically recoverable natural gas frozen in Alaska's North Slope region, according to this article from CNN. Natural gas hydrates recoverable with current technologies? Cool.
[Update: You can find a copy of the assessment here, and even a podcast discussing it here.]
According to this article in the NYT, President-elect Barack Obama choice of Rahm Emanuel to be his chief of staff may be good for proponents of compressed natural gas cars.
From the WSJ: Statoil has agreed to pay Chesapeake $1.25 billion in cash for a 32.5% interest in its assets in the Marcellus Shale; and spend an additional $2.13 billion over four years as part of Chesapeake's drilling costs.
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From the National Regulatory Research Institute: "Speculation in itself is not a bad thing. Good speculation provides a valuable market function. It helps local gas distribution companies and other large gas consumers, for example, to hedge against rising prices, and so to reduce risk - a significant benefit amid highly volatile gas prices and the current economic situation. By the same token, good speculation provides natural gas producers with more predictable future revenues, allowing them to expand with less uncertainty and borrowing costs. That trend, in turn, should help to lower the price of natural gas in the long run. Any attempt to curtail good speculation, therefore, is likely to make life harder for firms and raise natural gas prices." A copy of the report can be found here (entitled, Speculation in the Natural Gas Market: What It Is and What It Isn’t; When It’s Good and When It’s Bad).
Not surprising with increasing use of gas for generation: The sharp drop in natural gas prices is leading to a similar drop in electric rates in the country.
This is a large increase: A Penn State University geoscientist estimates that there may be more than 360 Tcf of natural gas recoverable in the Marcellus Shale. This is seven times greater than his earlier estimate.
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