I hear a lot about crude oil production on the West Coast, both offshore and onshore. But I don’t hear much about natural gas production. How much natural gas is produced on the West Coast and where does it come from?
Natural gas is an increasingly important source of energy and a great deal of it comes from the very same wells that produce crude oil. In 2007, according to the California Division of Oil, Gas & Geothermal Resources, 312 billion cubic feel of natural gas was produced in California and 219 billion cubic feet, or 70 percent, came from wells that also produce crude oil.
Natural gas produced from wells that also produce crude oil is called “associated” natural gas. The largest producing area for associated natural gas is the Elk Hills Oil Field in northwestern Kern County.
The biggest consumers of natural gas in California are the major electrical generating facilities. Because natural gas is cleaner burning than coal and many other sources of energy for electricity generation, virtually all power plants in the state use natural gas. According to the California Energy Commission, 43 percent of all of the natural gas used in California goes to electricity generation while another 22 percent is used in residences.
While California is the fourth largest oil producing state in the nation, it produces just 13.5 percent of the natural gas needed to heat and power the state, according to 2006 statistics compiled by the California Energy Commission. The remaining 86.5 percent of our natural gas supplies entered the state in pipelines from other gas producing regions in the western United States and Canada. Washington and Oregon also receive the natural gas they consume through pipelines from nearby states and Canada.
It was not until the second half of the 20th century that natural gas was recognized as a highly efficient and cleaner-burning source of energy. Today, natural gas provides 23 percent of all energy consumed in the world and demand for natural gas continues to grow globally. The U.S. Energy Information Administration predicts that global demand for natural gas will grow by approximately 50 percent through 2030.
Natural gas also produces fewer greenhouse gas emissions than do heavier forms of hydrocarbon fuels, such as coal and oil.
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