--> ABSTRACT: United States Natural Gas Resources--Availability and Cost, by Harry C. Kent; #91033 (2010)

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United States Natural Gas Resources--Availability and Cost

Harry C. Kent

Knowledge of the undeveloped resources of natural gas, together with estimates of the cost of development of those resources, is vital to long-range planning for industry and for national policy. The Potential Gas Committee is a cooperative venture of the natural gas industry and includes representatives from the producer, pipeline, and distribution segments in the United States. Most working members are exploration geologists.

The committee issues biennial reports, based on geologic evaluation, of the potential for future natural gas discoveries in the United States. The estimates prepared by the PGC are baseline estimates in that they attempt to provide a reasonable appraisal of the recoverable natural gas resources of the United States and are not limited by assumptions of the time of development, the life span of the natural gas industry, or the specific price to be paid for the produced gas. PGC reports include maximum, most likely, and minimum estimates, by province, for extensions and new pool discoveries in discovered fields; anticipated new field discoveries in established producing areas; and anticipated new fields in frontier areas. The estimates do not include, and are distinct and separate from, the volume of proved recoverable natural gas reserves contained in the nation's discovered fields.

Additional work is aimed at evaluating the costs involved in finding and developing the undiscovered resources included in PGC estimates. Preliminary results indicate that the bulk of conventional gas resources should be recoverable at costs consistent with continuing to supply gas to the marketplace at competitive prices.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91033©1988 AAPG Rocky Mountain Section, Bismarck, North Dakota, 21-24 August 1988