Natural Gas Could Ease Pump Pain

Wheeling WV  Intelligencer
8 March 2011
By Casey Junkins

WHEELING - A West Virginia University professor said six units of natural gas produce about the same amount of energy as one barrel of oil.

The major difference, of course, is that a unit of natural gas currently costs about $4, while the price of oil is skyrocketing to well over $100 per barrel. This means that natural gas can produce the same amount of energy that oil can, and do so for about $24, or less than one-fourth the cost of a barrel of oil.

"It's not difficult - you could easily use natural gas to power buses and city vehicles," said Tim Carr, WVU's Marshall Miller professor of geology. "It is also possible to convert natural gas to diesel or gasoline."

Carr said the major problem is that there is not enough infrastructure in place to use the natural gas as a vehicle fuel.

Chesapeake Energy spokeswoman Jacque Bland said there are about 110,000 vehicles designed to run on compressed natural gas traveling America's roads today, but only about 1,000 fueling stations for the product.

Chesapeake - the area's largest active natural gas driller - believes that compressed natural gas can provide a reliable and clean source of energy for lower cost than gasoline.

"Compressed natural gas is an affordable alternative when compared to gasoline or diesel fuel," said Bland. "Compressed natural gas can cut fuel costs by about 50 percent while delivering the same power and performance."

Bland cited a January report by the U.S. Department of Energy that then showed the average price for a gallon of this compressed gas at $1.93.

The same study showed gasoline then at an average of $3.08 per gallon, a price that is continuing to climb.

"Natural gas vehicles, using America's vast abundance of domestic natural gas, are our best answer for reducing foreign oil dependence and increasing energy and national security.

Almost all of the natural gas we use comes from North America, while 60 percent of the oil we use is imported," Bland added.

West Virginia Senate Bill 465 - which is under consideration in the House of Delegates after passing the Senate - would provide 35 percent credits for the purchase of alternative fuel vehicles, while giving a 50 percent credit for converting a conventional engine to run on alternative fuel. It would also give credits for building alternative fuel filling facilities of up to 50 percent.

"The Legislature further finds that the wholesale cost of fuel for certain alternatively-fueled motor vehicles is significantly lower than the cost of fueling traditional motor vehicles with oil-based fuels," a clause in the bill states.