NATURAL GAS SUPPLY ASSOCIATION

CONTACT: Charlotte LeGates

PHONE: 202/326-9316

FAX: 202/326-9334

E-MAIL: clegates@ngsa.org

Gas Producers Comment on New Government Figures on Reserve Replacements

Washington, DC"The gas producing industry has hit another home run," commented Philip Budzik, director of technical analysis at the Natural Gas Supply Association, in response to new government figures on the reserves natural gas producers found in 1996.

The Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration (EIA) announced today that, for the third year in a row, domestic natural gas producers replaced 107 percent of their production with new reserves. This means that there was 1.3 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) more gas in U.S. proved reserves at the end of 1996 than there was at the beginning, despite the fact that 18.9 Tcf were produced and sold to customers during 1996.

Of particular importance is the fact that total gas discoveries rose to 12.3 Tcf, following last year's 11 Tcf of gas discoveries. "This increase in new discoveries bodes well for future gas supplies because the ultimate recovery of gas from a field is often much greater than the discovered reserves that were initially reported," said Budzik.

The cited figures have been extracted from EIA's report, which is available at <http://www.eia.doe.gov>, or click here to access additional information on this website.

This page last updated October 7, 1997.