Natural gas reserves in 2001 may have reached their highest level in 14 years, which reflects the growth in gas exploration, production and development efforts, according to a study released Tuesday by the American Gas Association (AGA).

Last year, natural gas reserve additions exceeded production for the eighth time in the past 12 years, adding reserves to national inventories and increasing them to 180 Tcf — the highest level since 1987, according to AGA’s “Preliminary Findings Concerning 2001 Natural Gas Reserves.” The annual study by AGA offers a preliminary indication of changes in the national reserves inventory set to be issued this fall by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

“Natural gas producers have clearly been working hard to replace gas produced each year,” said Paul Wilkinson, AGA vice president for policy analysis. “This report shows that they are maintaining an inventory of on-the-shelf gas reserves that can be tapped for future production and eventual delivery to meet consumer demand.”

Wilkinson cautioned, however, that “natural gas producers are often ‘running in place’ just to keep up with current demand. For customers to realize the benefits of stepped-up production, increases in natural gas reserves must be accompanied by an expanded infrastructure to produce, gather, process and pipe gas to market areas.”

The AGA reported that in recent years, large and small producers combined have extracted more than 19 Tcf a year from the estimated inventory of known reserves throughout the United States. At the same time, new wells are being drilled, and revisions are being made to existing estimates of reserves, that add new volumes to the inventory of known reserves. For statistical purposes, if these reserve additions exceed annual production, domestic natural gas reserves “grow.”

The report is based on data from 30 large reserve holders in the United States, which AGA said is normally about 50% of the domestic natural gas reserves inventory. The remaining percent of the reserves is “held by hundreds of independent producers,” AGA said. Most of the natural gas consumed in the United States (84%) is produced in the U.S. Most of the rest is imported from Canada, Wilkinson said.

Copies of AGA’s full report are available through the web site at www.aga.org, or by calling (202) 824-7204.

©Copyright 2002 Intelligence Press Inc. Allrights reserved. The preceding news report may not be republishedor redistributed, in whole or in part, in any form, without priorwritten consent of Intelligence Press, Inc.