Grayce P. Storey
In 1984 there were about 200 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in proved reserves in the United States and adding Mexico and Canada brings it up to 360 trillion cubic feed. “Proved reserves are gas deposits underground that can be produced using today’s methods and machinery.”
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The above data does not include natural gas deposits that have been discovered. Some scientist speculate that “potential for future gas discoveries to be up to 10 times today’s proved reserves.”
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In the U.S. we consumed “between 17 and 18 trillion cubic feet of natural gas a year.”
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We are balancing the scale with that which is used up and new discoveries. In areas such as Canada and Mexico proved reserves are growing.
Due to government regulation control on natural gas prices, gas was priced low in the 1970’s. As a result we consumed more gas. This brought about a shortage of supply in some areas. The government allowed prices to increase to encourage companies to explore more. The increased prices encouraged people to conserve even more. Today companies have produced an abundance of gas ready to be consumed.
In the future experts expect the use of natural gas to continue to grow through the year 2000. It is also believed that the supply and demand will continue to be an important source of energy.
