U.S. Natural Gas Reserves Continue to Increase

By PlanetLaundry staff | May 19, 2010

The American Gas Association recently reported that, at year-end 2009, the “known reserves” of natural gas in the United States likely increased for the eleventh straight year and now approach 250 trillion cubic feet – the highest level in more than 35 years. Much of the supply optimism can be traced to the influences of unconventional resources such as natural gas from shale and tight sands.

“Natural gas supply in this county remains bullish,” said David N. Parker, AGA president and CEO. “Production is also up, underpinned by the recent development of secure, domestic natural gas resources in deepwater offshore, as well as unconventional gas in the lower 48 states. This is great news for natural gas customers. AGA believes these numbers will hold steady for the foreseeable future unless significant policy decisions restrict access to potential resources of domestic natural gas.”

BP, the largest U.S. producer of natural gas in 2009, produced less than 5 percent of the national total last year, indicating that the natural gas production industry remains very competitive. Other large producers and reserves holders include household names such as ExxonMobil, yet significant volumes of gas are produced by others, such as Chesapeake Energy, Devon, Anadarko and EOG Resources. In fact, thousands of other large, mid-size and small producers provided the bulk of domestic natural gas to local distribution companies last year.

The American Gas Association, founded in 1918, represents 195 local energy companies that deliver clean natural gas throughout the United States. There are more than 70 million commercial, residential and industrial natural gas customers in the U.S. In fact, today, natural gas meets almost one-fourth of the United States' energy needs.