Abstract: Coal: Backbone of America's Domestic Energy Supply

Roger L. Bon, F. R. Jahanbari

Coal's dominance in the energy marketplace will continue well into the Twenty-First Century. With an estimated resource base of 476 billion short tons, adequate domestic coal supplies at the present rate of consumption are assured for the next two hundred years. At present, coal is the only energy resource in the United States which is produced in excess of consumption. Coal exports currently exceed 100 million tons annually. On an energy content basis this tonnage is equivalent to 380 million barrels of oil.

At current rates of consumption, including imports, conventional domestic supplies of oil and gas are being depleted at a rapid rate. Increased imports of petroleum products as well as uranium will be required to meet domestic energy needs for the foreseeable future.

As conventional oil and gas supplies become scarce, coal and non-conventional energy resources will emerge to supplant oil and gas markets. As dwindling supplies of domestic oil and gas lead to increased imports, the convertability of coal to a liquid and/or gas fuel form may become an economic reality.

Major factors that would influence the emergence of convertible coal products for domestic use are international oil and gas prices, projected coal

supply and demand, the extent of development of coal conversion technology, product pricing, national public policy, and world-wide political events.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90986©1994 AAPG Annual Convention, Denver, Colorado, June 12-15, 1994