Shale Gas Reserves Grow to Compensate for Obama Energy Starvation

Update 22Dec2010: I intended to link to the Geoffrey Styles article: Natural Gas and the Gulf Hiatus as a part of this article, but was distracted in the middle of writing and forgot to include the link. The information in the Styles article provides important information about the adverse impact of the Obama Gulf Moratorium on US production of both oil and gas.

GCCThe US Energy Information Agency (EIA) is reporting in its Annual Energy Outlook report that shale gas reserves are growing to compensate for losses of offshore gas brought about by Obama's de facto moratorium on new deepwater production in the Gulf.

The technically recoverable unproved shale gas resource is 827 trillion cubic feet (as of 1 January 2009) in the AEO2011 Reference case, 474 trillion cubic feet larger than in the AEO2010 Reference case, reflecting additional information that has become available with more drilling activity in new and existing shale plays. This larger resource leads to about double the shale gas production and more than 20% higher total lower-48 natural gas production in 2035, with lower natural gas prices, than was projected in the AEO2010 Reference case.

Our Reference case projection shows the growing importance of natural gas from domestic shale gas resources in meeting US energy demand and lowering natural gas prices. Energy efficiency improvements and the increased use of renewables are other key factors that moderate the projected growth in energy-related greenhouse gas emissions.
—EIA Administrator Richard Newell

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This news will be greeted with dismay from lefty-Luddites, faux environmentalists, peak energy doomers, and others who feel ill will toward the US and the US economy. Those who acknowledge and accept the vital role of energy for the well-being of a society, on the other hand, will welcome the growing resource.

The Obama administration has shut down significant US coal production, has shut down most new or planned offshore oil & gas production, is working on stopping the importation of Canadian oil sands, and has plans to limit shale oil & gas production -- or stop it entirely. New safer, cleaner, less expensive nuclear energy reactors are dead in the water under Obama's foot-dragging NRC. Mr. Obama always intended to institute a comprehensive plan of energy starvation over the US economy, but he had not counted on the recent explosion in unconventional energy resources.

The WikiLeaks scandal helped to reveal how deeply the Obama regime is tied up with the carbon hysteria movement -- and how far they are willing to go to force carbon hysteria on the entire world, if possible. But right under their noses, shale gas has come along and thrown their plans off schedule.

Salazar, Holdren, Obama, Boxer, and the other usual suspects have been caught flat-footed by these new energy supplies, and are working extremely hard behind-the-scenes to shut them down by any means or technicality possible. Watch them closely.