The U.S. Energy Information Administration has released its yearly long-term outlook of energy markets. EIA, the federal agency in charge of energy statistics and forecasts, uses its Annual Energy Outlook to present its view of energy consumption and production in the United States from now until 2035. They unveiled the 2012 Early Release yesterday, and a few high-level points are worth mentioning:
1. Natural gas production rises over projection period and shale comes to represent half of all dry gas production.
EIA sees shale as a growing and increasingly important resource of natural gas for the county; that there is a lot of gas, and it will be produced. In EIA’s view, shale gas is expected to grow to nearly half of all natural gas production by 2035, spurred by new technology, and a greater push toward more liquids-rich plays due to higher oil prices. In the last few years, natural gas production from shale has propelled from nearly nothing to 5.0 trillion cubic feet in 2010, making it 23 percent of all U.S. gas production that year. Data for 2011 indicates that shale production grew again last year. In the outlook, EIA sees continued growth in shale gas production, increasing to an incredible 13.6 trillion cubic feet in 2035, making it 49 percent of the total U.S. dry gas production.
- U.S. Natural Gas Production, 1990-2035 (trillion cubic feet)
