10:57AM
Chart of the day: Economist's listing of top 15 natural gas resources
Friday, July 20, 2012 at 10:57AM 
On the unconvential (shale): the usual list that I work with, with the addition of Russia as #3 in world. Most experts don't talk all that much about Russia because, with all their conventional gas, there's not a great need to exploit.
But the real kicker for me in the charts is the bottom right one, which is a stunner: by 2030 the projection that gas, coal and oil all converge in the high 20s as basically equal shares in world primary energy usage. Several stories here:
- Gas displacing coal (not surprising)
- Long slow increase in nat gas production/use
- And then the true stunner of such a huge drop in oil (about 45% in 1970 to high 20s in 2030).
Fascinating stuff.
tagged China, LATAM, Russia, US, energy, extractive industries | in Chart of the day | Email Article | Permalink | Print Article
China, LATAM, Russia, US, energy, extractive industries | in Chart of the day | Email Article | Permalink | Print Article 
Reader Comments (2)
The natural gas renaissance is what is driving the fossil fuel trends. With US supply now surging and the price per BTU 1/2 that of coal, electricity generation is naturally switching over as fast as possible to great economic AND environmental benefit (far lower particulate pollution and 1/3 less CO2 per KW/Hr).
I expect we will start using natural gas for transportation too, as the good old internal combustion engine that Detroit and Americans know and love so well is easy to convert to run on both natural gas and gasoline. At about $2.50 per GGE (gasoline gallon equivalent) the economic incentives are equally attractive, and again there is a big environmental win of 1/4 less CO2 per KW/Hr of energy output.
Natural gas is the bridge fuel to our future economy. Now accessible, easy and cheap to transport, clearner than what we're already using, and enough to last 100+ years. And the future will be Fusion, which is the only technology that really scales to the magnitude of energy we need (TERAWATTs!!!). Renewables just don't make sense when you run the numbers as succintly explained in this TED talk:
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/david_mackay_a_reality_check_on_renewables.html
MHO
I'm surprised that liquefied petroleum gas (produced from natural gas) doesn't seem to be a player in US ground transportation. It's used a lot in Australia -- lots of taxis use it, for example. It could make a real dent in oil requirements, but does require new infrastructure (LPG filling stations and new engines).