Will Natural Gas Replace Gasoline?

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Oilprice.com conducted a wide-ranging interview of energy trader and author Raymond Learsy ostensibly about his new book, Oil and Finance: The Epic Corruption Continues, which looks at corruption within the oil sector. But the interview turned in an interesting direction: a discussion about how natural gas could conceivably replace gasoline.

During the interview, Learsy takes the New York Times to task for their yellow journalism against the natural gas industry. On the topic of fracking, Learsy said this:

Raymond Learsy: Fracking is something that has to be studied and has to be mastered and I think the oil companies are not irresponsible, they’re not irresponsible entities. They fully understand their civic responsibilities and also their commercial and their legal responsibilities. They are beginning to take this problem and really work it through to the point where it is going to be as safe as it reasonably can be and then we have to consider is it safe enough?

I mean, with all of these problems the environmental groups look at them from one point of view only and what we need is leadership where all these things are taken into consideration; the economy, national security and the environment, and where the judgment is made based on the pros and cons of each of these energy sources. I don’t think that is really done, nor is it discussed in a lucid, candid way and with regard to natural gas. I mean, we are the beneficiaries of something we didn’t even know existed four or five years ago.

And the potential in terms of our economic development, in terms of our national security is enormous. The question is how much of a problem is it environmentally and can the oil companies really deal with it in such a way that it is minimal.*

Interestingly, he goes on to talk about an MIT study that MDN called to your attention in March of this year:

Raymond Learsy: You know, if they don’t want to order my book, they can order the MIT study which, If I had my druthers between ordering my book, which is called "Oil and Finance: The Epic Corruption Continues," and this study, I would order the study. The future of natural gas which is an interdisciplinary MIT study and I’m sure it can be gotten from MIT. It’s called The Future of Natural Gas and it was published in June of ’11.

What it tells you is the dramatic potential of natural gas in terms of our energy consumption and usage. And it is done in great detail by a whole bevy of authorities who really spent time, effort and enormous amount of research in coming up with this, not like the New York Times.*

MDN has embedded the MIT study below that Learsy references so you can read it or download it and print it out.

Read the rest of this very interesting interview by clicking the link directly below.

*Scoop/Oilprice.com (Jun 12, 2012) – Why Natural Gas Could Displace Gasoline

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