Natural gas from shale
Posted by WARREN MOSLER on November 5th, 2009
Good story.
The key is to replace crude oil which is now largely used for ground transportation.
Pluggable hybrid cars can do the trick if we can get through the next 10 years while they begin to take over.
And natural gas can begin to replace coal for electric power generation needs as suggested below.
Crude has moved from about 70 to about 80 with no increase in demand, as Saudi and OPEC production, a good indicator of actual demand as the Saudis set price to their refiners and let quantity adjust, was relatively flat last month.
So it looks like the Saudis simply changed their prices under cover of investors giving the futures a bid as they moved maybe another $20 billion (from on what I’ve heard) into that asset class during October.
America’s Natural Gas Revolution
By Daniel Yergin and Robert Ineson
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November 5th, 2009 at 10:25 am
Diesel fuel can be made from natural gas (GTL) and from coal (CTL). In fact at $3/gallon diesel from coal is said to be profitable but it is expensive to build a plant and it takes about 5-10 years. The would be investors fear that the price will drop or that pollution of co2 concerns could cause a changing in taxation that would wipe out their investment.
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November 5th, 2009 at 11:39 am
We just need enough natural gas to transition us to a full nuclear economy, probably based on these:
http://www.theoildrum.com/node/4971
If the Obamites had allocated a feww billion for LFTRs in the stimulus bill, it might have actually done some good…
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