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ExxonMobil: natural gas to be fastest-growing major fuel through 2040

A Cabot Oil & Gas drill rig nestled into the landscape in Kingsley, Pa. The company has some of the most productive wells in the Marcellus shale.

Lindsay Lazarski/WHYY

A Cabot Oil & Gas drill rig nestled into the landscape in Kingsley, Pa. The company has some of the most productive wells in the Marcellus shale.


In its annual long-term energy outlook released today, ExxonMobil predicts natural gas will be the fastest-growing major fuel through 2040.
The company says shale gas development in North America and the emerging market for liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports will likely, “play a major role in expanding and reshaping natural gas supplies over the coming decades.”
From the report:

About 65 percent of the growth in natural gas supplies through 2040 is expected to be from unconventional sources, which will account for one-third of global production by 2040. North America will lead unconventional gas production, accounting for more than half the growth through most of the Outlook period.

ExxonMobil also predicts rising standards of living will push energy demand up by 35 percent as electricity and modern fuels reach people in development countries.
From the Associated Press:

The report’s conclusions largely agree with those reached in other long-term energy forecasts, including a recent report by the International Energy Agency.
The outlook predicts demand for oil and natural gas — Exxon’s main products — will grow steadily because shippers and truckers will need more diesel to move more goods and utilities will need additional natural gas to make electricity for more people.
Use of coal, now the chief fuel for electricity and the second most important fuel in the world after oil, will flatten in the next decades and slip to third place as countries shift to cleaner natural gas. Nuclear power and renewable electricity sources such as wind, solar and biofuels will grow fastest of all, but remain a small part of the energy mix by 2040 because they will remain expensive.

Earlier this week, the federal Energy Information Administration released estimates showing the Marcellus shale far outpacing other natural gas regions around the country.
ExxonMobil’s subsidiary XTO Energy has 173 active wells in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale, according to the most recent data from the state Department of Environmental Protection.

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