The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) has just released their Annual Energy Outlook 2014 (full copy embedded below). Each year the EIA performs a comprehensive review of all sources of energy used in the U.S., and they take their best guess at where supply and demand–and prices–will go in the near- and long-term (to 2040 for this report). The EIA employs some of the best brains in the business and of all the government agencies, the EIA is least susceptible to political manipulation by The White House. We love the EIA and the reports and information they generate.
When MDN editor Jim Willis attended the Platts Global Energy Forum last December, it was a real eye-opener (see Jimmy Goes to the Big Apple: Platts Global Energy Outlook Forum). Those of us heavily involved in the shale industry sometimes lose sight of the bigger picture. Shale energy is just one component–a very important component, but just one–in a much larger energy picture. This annual report from the EIA helps provide that larger perspective–helping us to see where the shale energy industry “fits” in the picture. One tidbit from the report we noticed was their prediction for where the commodity price of natural gas will go in the near- and long-term. The EIA says…
