Unlocking the Potential of Domestic Gas Resources: Making the Unconventional Conventional

Among the challenges facing the new administration is the need to simultaneously reduce greenhouse gas emissions and strengthen U.S. energy security.   In order to achieve these ends, new policies are likely to favor (among other options) the production and use of lower emissions fuels that are domestically sourced.  Given these strategic objectives, natural gas is poised to remain a critical part of the U.S. energy mix and economy.

In the past several years the U.S. has actually been able to reverse decline of domestic onshore production due to the development of new sources of gas.  Estimates reveal a potentially vast, but geologically challenging and diverse base of domestic gas resources.  Many of these resources, traditionally deemed “unconventional gas” (shale gas, tight gas, coalbed methane) due to economic and geologic reservoir constraints, are now being unlocked with the application of new technologies and production methods.  Recent success producing unconventional gas, particularly from shale, has led to substantial optimism about their potential to contribute to supply.  

However, an evolving set of challenges – commercial, regulatory, environmental, and others – confront the development of unconventional gas resources, and will shape their role in the larger supply picture as well as the role of gas during the transition to a secure, low-carbon energy future.