Daniel Fisher, a senior editor at Forbes has a blog post titled: “A New World of Cheap Gas“. In the post he explores the impact of new gas production on contract rates, natural gas uses, the impact on renewable energy technology, government policy and more.

The International Energy Agency has released their “World Energy Outlook“.  A few quotes….

“Whatever climate policies are introduced, natural gas is set to continue to play a bridging role in meeting the world’s sustainable energy needs.”

“As one of the consequences of the financial crisis, global energy use is set to fall this year… it will soon resume its upward trend if government policies don’t change… with demand increases by 40% between now and 2030.”

“A continuation of current trends in energy use puts the world on track for a rise in temperature of up to 6°C and poses serious threats to global energy security.”

“Containing climate change is possible but will require a profound transformation of the energy sector.”

The Energy Information Administration released a report on the potential for oil and gas development in the Arctic Ocean. That report states… “Given that the Arctic resource base is predominantly composed of natural gas and natural gas liquids, the importance of Arctic oil and natural gas resources is likely to be affected by the growing realization that shale beds in existing petroleum provinces around the world might be capable of producing 5,000 to 16,000 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.47 This potentially large shale gas resource could significantly defer the future development of Arctic natural gas resources.”

An article in the New York Times explores the position of natural gas in climate legislation and questions why all of the new shale gas plays have not earned it more prominent position?