(10b) What Are We Going to Do with All This Natural Gas?” – Ramifications of the Dramatic Expansion of Natural Gas Available to the Market Due to North American Shale Gas Production and LNG Liquefaction

The success in Shale and other unconventional formations has dramatically expanded the N. American Natural Gas reserves and promises to also do so in many other parts of the world.  New LNG liquefaction capacity in the Middle East and  Asia along with additional large scale capacity from Australia and Papua New Guinea coming on-line in the next 5 years opens the opportunity for a global trade in Natural Gas stabilizing historically volatile pricing.  How will this important energy and petrochemical feedstock be utilized?  The success in improving techniques to allow unconventional gas reserves to be proven and significantly increase the available reserves has not as yet been fully appreciated by markets and policy makers.  This presentation reviews the ramifications of natural gas becoming a larger part of the global energy supply for which there are numerous competing interests.  Natural Gas holds the ability to significantly reduce carbon emissions by substitution for coal in power generation, it can be used as a transportation fuel either as LNG, CNG or GTL clean diesel increasing energy independence of some of the largest economies in the world simultaneously reducing carbon emissions.  It could enable the USA to maintain its position as a leading petrochemical producer if used for ethylene feedstock.  How will these competing interests play out and how will governments respond?