Shale gas revolution triggers FDI boom for US
Wednesday, December 19, 2012 at 9:02AM 
FT front-page story on shale gas boom in US already identifiably responsible for additional $90b foreign direct investment flow into US.
Subtitles are telling:
- Investments drive US industrial renaissance
- European companies fear growing divide
Industries that benefit from cheap feedstocks are being targeted, and European counterparts fear they will be at systematic disadvantage in any industry that is fuel-intensive.
Yes, some of these same industries in US argue now for no LNG exports, lest the advantage slip away. But most energy experts say we can export at will and probably raise the MMBTU price by maybe only one dollar. We are now about 8-10$ cheaper than LNG prices in Europe and about $15 less than what Asians (mostly the Japanese) are paying.
So yeah, we can have our cake and eat it too.
Forever?
No, but arguably for a solid generation's time.
So much for "peak oil" determining all.
FDI, US, energy, extractive industries | in Citation Post | Email Article | Permalink | Print Article 
Reader Comments (1)
It costs about $1000 to install a kit that allows an ordinary gasoline vehicle to flip a switch and run off compressed natural gas and when the CNG tank is empty and there is no place to refill the switch can be flipped back to run on gasoline from the gas tank. The problem is that the EPA requires that the kit go through certification for each type of vehicle and each engine on which it is installed and that each mechanic and shop that does the installation be certified every year. The cost of this certification process is spread over the small number of conversions for each particular engine, vehicle and model year results in a conversion cost of about $25,000 per conversion.
If the EPA just required that a converted vehicle pass a smog test using each fuel, the price of converting would drop, many vehicles would be converted, much more natural gas would be consumed for transportation and much less gasoline would be consumed. As a byproduct, since running on natural gas produces much less emissions, the air would be cleaner. That would increase demand and price of natural gas and lower the demand and price for gasoline.