Bruce Pile

Oil and Natural Gas Will Decouple - Big Time

Global natural gas is projected by the Hubbert model to keep climbing briskly to a production peak around 2030 as opposed to a precarious plateau for conventional crude. Thus it appears to be about a 30 year bridge away from crude to the fuels that will follow. LNG will continue to become a vital survival fuel to most nations while in the U.S. LNG continues to be a boogey man. Our measly 3% use of LNG will come in real handy when North American production collapses. This will not be a gradual decline like oil. Gas fields fizzle much more quickly and with much less warning. Natural gas will be decoupled from crude as a fuel of the future around the world, but in the U.S. it will be just another dunce cap our energy policy will have to wear.