U.S. Domestic Natural Gas Demand Forecasts

EXISTING PRODUCTION

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POTENTIAL

SHORTFALL

Sources: NPC, 1999; AEO, 1999,

Hart E&P, May 2000

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40

30

20

10

TCF/

YEAR

1990

2000

2010

2015

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YEAR

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• As has been made abundantly clear already at this conference, the U.S. is entering a 30-plus tcf world.

• Natural gas is a relatively clean burning fuel and is increasingly being used to generate electric power. Half of the new demand for gas will come from power generation as older coal-fired plants are replaced by or converted to those that use natural gas. In addition, the public favors natural gas and most new homes being built in the U.S. today are gas fueled.

• Of course, the question you are putting before me today is whether additional production from the offshore, in particular Alaska, can help meet this rising demand.

• The answer is an unqualified “yes.”

• The Minerals Management Service and the Bush Administration are working extremely hard to make sure we have the appropriate balance of incentives and market forces working to help us meet the increased demand we anticipate over the next two decades.

• As most of you know, President Bush has asked Vice President Cheney to chair a task force on energy issues facing the United States. The availability of natural gas to meet future demand is a major item on their agenda. The Department of the Interior is represented on the Task Force by our new Secretary, Gale Norton, and MMS—along with others in the Department—have been involved in collecting and providing information on energy issues to the Secretary.

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