Indiana Grain Company, LLC

Posted: 07/02/09

By: tomgrisafi

The country's natural gas reserves are much bigger than previously thought, according to a report released yesterday.

Thanks to new technology that has allowed producers to drill for gas in shale rock, the Potential Gas Committee in Golden, Colo., said that the estimated reserves in the US are 35 percent higher than just two years ago and have reached the highest level since the group started tracking the information 44 years ago.

The report comes as natural gas is being touted as a way to help reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil and cut emissions that lead to global warming.

"We knew it was there. It was a matter of how productive it possibly could be," said John Curtis, professor of geology and geological engineering at the Colorado School of Mines and the committee director.

Natural gas is used to generate about a fifth of the nation's electricity as well as to heat homes. It emits about half of the heat trapping greenhouse gas that coal does. Those who are pushing natural gas the hardest, like Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens, have promoted natural gas as a transportation fuel that could be used to reduce dependence on foreign oil.

Source: AP

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