Oh, do we have gas!

"And how much of this exists? 90 years? Nope. 900 years? No again. Try 9,000 years. WOW!" 

Calm down. I don't need a Tums nor a Di-gel. I am talking about natural gas. That colorless, odorless stuff most of use in our furnaces. And what many people don't understand about this product is this - it was once considered a waste product and burned off at the well. In fact, it still is burned off if it cannot be shipped out fast enough. Wait! If we do that, does it mean we will run out of it quicker? Not a bit.

So how much gas do we have? I mean, just us - where we don't have to import from anyone. Using the most conservative estimates, we have 10 years of "dry" natural gas. That is the gas which we absolutely know is there and how to get it using today's or even yesterday's technology. 

Here is where it gets interesting. With our newer technology in how to extract gas from shale, we could have have a whole lot more. How much more? About 80 years or so. Now truthfully, most scientists don't put a lot of brain power into figuring out the exact number. Why? Most feel we will be on to the next big energy "shebang" long before the 80 years is up. 

Do you really want to walk on the wild side? Petroleum scientists are now talking about our "frozen" gas reserves. This is stuff we really don't have the technology to go after (yet). It is called "frozen" as it is under pressure from the US Outer Continental Shelf. Right now it is called either methane hydrates or methane clathrates. Like I said, we don't have the technology to go after it. However, most petroleum scientists believe within 80 years, we will. And how much of this exists? 90 years? Nope. 900 years? No again. Try 9,000 years (give or take a century). WOW! 

Why do I bring this up today? The former "big, bad, OPEC", which not too long ago would scare the heck out of us and have us over a barrel, cut back oil production today. Big whoop. Not only do we have centuries, many millenniums worth of natural gas, we have a butt load of oil and coal also. And (this is the kicker), we keep finding more all the time! By the way - that recent discovery in Texas is one of the biggest finds ever!

Go ahead OPEC. This is not a bad thing. Recently, the prices have been so depressed they have been "cold stacking" equipment in North Dakota. We have plenty, and I mean plenty left to extract in North Dakota. And that is not including this gargantuan field we just discovered in Texas.

Some day the Saudis will run out of oil when we still have plenty. They will come to us, hat in hand. Will we tell them to "pound sand"? No. We will help them. We will treat them a whole lot better than they treated us in 1973. Why? That is just the way we roll - even when we do have gas.