Question 23.43

13. In his State of the Union address in January 2012, President Barack Obama said, “We have a supply of natural gas that can last America nearly one hundred years.” The U.S. Energy Information Administration had stated in October 2011 that the United States has 2543 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of “potential” natural gas resources (including both identified and undiscovered resources). (One-third of that total was gas from shale, extractable by fracking.) In 2010, U.S. consumption of natural gas was 23.8 Tcf and projected to increase at 0.6% per year.

981

  1. What was the static reserve for natural gas in 2011?
  2. What was the exponential reserve then?

13.

(a) 107 years

(b) 83 years