Full Title: A Strategy for U.S. Natural Gas Exports
Author(s): Michael Levi
Publisher(s): The Hamilton Project
Publication Date: June 1, 2012
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):
U.S. natural gas production is booming. Five years ago, most experts assumed that U.S. natural gas output was in terminal decline; today, most believe the opposite. As recently as 2009, the U.S. Department of Energy was projecting indefinite dependence on imported natural gas along with rising prices for decades to come (EIA 2009a). By 2010, after breakthroughs in extracting natural gas from shale, conventional wisdom had flipped. Large-scale gas imports now seem unlikely, and abundant domestic supplies look like they will hold prices in check (EIA 2010a).
The market has signaled its endorsement of this development by hammering natural gas prices. U.S. benchmark natural gas dipped below $2 for a thousand cubic feet in early 2012, and as of mid-April 2012, delivery of the same amount in March 2015 could be assured for $4.43. Wellhead prices, meanwhile, fell to levels unseen since 1995.