It looks like Western Colorado may be sitting on quite a bit more energy than experts believed. In fact, as Colorado Public Radio reports, the western part of the state has 40 times more natural gas than previously thought. However, it’s unlikely the extra gas will produce another oil boom, as tapping the energy would only send prices lower.
The natural gas is located in a region known as the Mancos Shale formation in Colorado's Piceance Basin. The basin is now estimated to hold about 67 trillion cubic feet of gas. That’s far more than 2003’s estimate of less than two trillion. The gas is enough to heat over a billion homes for a year.
If gas prices begin to rise again, expect companies to begin tapping the newly discovered resources. For the Colorado gas to be competitive, the US also needs more facilities to export natural gas to Pacific nations.
