Natural gas is taking over the dominant energy spot from oil as more nations seek cleaner fuel to grow.

The World Energy Council says gas will overtake coal as the second most popular energy source by 2020, and it will overtake oil for the No. 1 spot within 60 years. Other forecasts put gas in the leadership role much sooner.
Demand for gas clearly is on the move. It should nearly double from 90 Tcf worldwide in 2000 to 174 Tcf in 2020, according to the Energy Information Administration, and with that increase will come a new balance in world energy leverage.
In 1999, world gas reserves were estimated at 5,145 Tcf. A third of those reserves were in Russia, and 39% were in the Middle East. But gas will become more mobile. Cambridge Energy Research Associates predicts liquefied natural gas (LNG) use will triple in the next 20 years and become a major energy factor.
Since the Middle East and Russia have 72% of the reserves, that's where a lot of the action will take place.
Middle East
Saudi Arabia just opened its gas exploration industry to foreign investors. Other Middle Eastern countries have done the same.
Qatar would like to establish a regional gas grid using its 377.6 Tcf North field. Iran would like to join that alliance with another 321 Tcf from its South Pars field.
Asia
Russian oil companies like Yukos and Tyumen are setting up partnerships with western companies. BP and Tyumen are partners in a supergiant western Russian gas field, and they are planning to build a pipeline into Korea. Russia's Yukos also has started a venture to look for gas in the Sea of Ohkotsk between eastern Siberia and Alaska.
Two Sakhalin Island projects off eastern Russia offer high-volume gas supplies to Japan and possibly China. Sakhalin 1 claims 17 Tcf in reserves, while Sakhalin 2 has 14.4 Tcf of gas reserves. Both projects plan gas exports before the end of the decade.
The centerpiece of China's 4,200-mile (6,758-km) west-to-east gas pipeline is the Kela-2 discovery in the Tarim Basin. That 8.8 Tcf field will become the largest Chinese field to be run by a foreign operator. At a planned production rate of 350 Bcf/year, it also shows the potential of western China gas production.
Vietnam's offshore US $15 billion Nam Con Son project is set to provide 2 Tcf of gas to that nation when the pipeline is finished next year. First fields on line will be BP, Statoil and Vietnam Oil and Gas Co.'s Lan Tay and Lan Do fields.
Pacific Rim
Russia and the Middle East may have the big reserves, but according to IHS Energy Group, 12 giant gas fields of 5 Tcf or more were discovered around the world during the 1990s, and half of them were in Southeast Asia.
Big news on the Australia gas front comes from the Otway Basin, where Origin Energy has drilled and confirmed its 1 Tcf Geographe discovery and the nearby 1 Tcf Thylacine discovery with Woodside Petroleum.
As for gas supplies reaching the Darwin area from Phillips Petroleum's Bayu-Udan project, that pipeline is on hold while Phillips debates taxes with East Timor. Shell would like to go ahead with an offshore LNG plant nearby at the Woodside Sunrise field.
The massive Malampaya project in the Philippines will put up to 23.5 Tcf of gas into the market, but that will be used to satisfy growing national demand. The Philippines also would like to tie into Malaysia's 84 Tcf in reserves. Some 7.7 Tcf of that is off the northwest and southwest coasts of Sabah.
Indonesia's gas is spread out. Some islands have it, some don't. The government would like to link about 600 MMcf/d of gas from South Sumatra to West Java. Prabumulih field in South Sumatra has 3.8 Tcf in reserves and potential for 5 Tcf.
North America
The United States will need 30 Tcf/year by 2015, up from 22 Tcf/year now. Some of that gas will come from tight sand supplies in the Rocky Mountains; more will come from deepwater deposits and deep reservoirs (10.5 Tcf) in shallow water in the Gulf of Mexico.
All-out drilling in the Lower 48 states can add only 3 Tcf/year to 4 Tcf/year to supplies.
The biggest supplies probably will come from the 35 Tcf in recoverable resources on the North Slope of Alaska and the 6 Tcf in recoverable gas in easily producible fields in the Arctic Mackenzie Delta area of Canada. Major companies are fighting to see which area will get the supplies to the biggest gas user in the world before 2010.
Some gas could come from the estimated 23 Tcf of gas in northern Mexico's Burgos Basin, but Mexico may need that gas for its own use.
Meanwhile, researchers are looking for more supplies. One group is investigating basin-center gas found around the world. Gas trapped in overpressured or underpressured pockets could amount to 324 Tcf in the Rocky Mountain states.
Mediterranean
Deepwater offshore Egypt is booming as BP Egypt tested its Libra well on the North Alexandria Block for 22 MMcf/d in 1,830 ft (558 m) of water. BP will drill up to six more wells in the next 12 months. BP likes the project well enough that it bought out TotalFinaElf's share of the West Mediterranean Deepwater license area with an estimated 500 Bcf in gas reserves. It also announced the 600 Bcf Fayoum discovery on North Alexandria.
BP plans to drill its Nile Delta prospect this year, and it holds the adjacent North Idku concession.
South America
Venezuela is South America's gas giant. At 146 Tcf, it has more reserves than the rest of South America combined. It is just beginning to exploit those reserves. Meanwhile, it will get some competition from Bolivia with more than 16 Tcf in reserves in recent discoveries. Both countries plan to export their gas as LNG.
Africa
African countries would like to stop flaring gas to get revenues from their oil. That's one reason Nigeria plans a fourth LNG plant. It also plans to stop all gas flaring with production by the end of the decade.

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