Oil vs. Natural Gas
Claim
I was recently told that the natural gas offered a fantastic solution
to our national energy problems; that natural gas can be found in
copious amounts in all fifty states (thus we needn't import it and
be beholden to foreign powers); that natural gas is significantly more
abundant than oil. In order to determine if this is the case, I needed
to answer the following questions:
- What are the proven reserves of both oil and natural gas?
- What is the amount of available energy associated with these
proven reserves?
To answer these questions, I went to the following web sites:
What do the Data Show?
Let's compare how much power is available from proven reserves of oil
an natural gas.
Available energy per unit volume:
- Natural Gas: 1,014.02 Btu/cu.ft.
- Oil: 5,614,353.79 Btu/Barrel
Reserves:
- 6,359 trillion cubic feet = 6.45*10^21 Btu.
- 1,200 billion barrels = 6.74*10^21 Btu.
So proven reserves are essentially identical in terms
of available energy. Similarly, U.S. consumption of natural
gas and oil are pretty similar
- Natural Gas: 22.096*10^15 Btu
- Oil: 37.706*10^15 Btu
In a similar fashion, the U.S. share of the world consumption
of oil and natural gas are roughly equal:
- Natural Gas: 26.9%
- Oil: 25.5%
Conclusion
Natural gas usage will not be able to effectively displace
oil usage as the primary fuel source for the United States
unless new reserves are found.