USA, Washington DC

The American Clean Skies Foundation has unveiled a study of America’s natural gas resource base that concludes that America now has over 100 years (and climbing) of natural gas that can be economically produced. The study, which was conducted by Navigant Consulting, found that the federal government has consistently under-estimated the amount of natural gas trapped in unconventional places like shale rock. After extensive data gathering, the study concludes that the total U.S. recoverable resources amount to 2,247 trillion cubic feet, or 118 years worth of supply at current production levels.

"The size of these shale gas deposits is so enormous that they can no longer be overlooked," said Aubrey McClendon, chairman of the American Clean Skies Foundation and chief executive of Chesapeake Energy Corp, the third-largest U.S. natural gas producer. More conservative estimates peg U.S. recoverable natural gas supplies at 1,680 trillion cubic feet, or 88 years of supply. But such estimates ignore the potential of unconventional gas production from shale, tight sands and coal-bed methane, said Rick Smead, co-author of the report and project manager for Navigant. Forecasts from the U.S. Energy Information Administration "have been significantly outstripped by actual behavior," Smead said.

Shale formations, sedimentary rock found across the United States that makes natural gas, were once uneconomic. But new technology like horizontal drilling and fracture stimulation in recent years have "liberated enormous amounts of natural gas," McClendon said. A conservative estimate for sustainable production from just the "big seven" shale plays is at least 27 billion cubic feet per day -- half of current total natural gas production, Smead said.