From the NYT Geologists Sharply Cut Estimate of Shale Gas

The shale formation has about 84 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered, technically recoverable natural gas, according to the report from the United States Geological Survey. This is drastically lower than the 410 trillion cubic feet that was published earlier this year by the federal Energy Information Administration.

We've seen this inflation and mis-understanding of resource and reserve estimates in the past. The media likes splashy headlines of huge deposits and the public doesn't understand the difference between an assesment, a resource, and a reserve.

Still, we have lots of Nat Gas, and that's going to help, as long as the infrastructure can be expanded to areas that traditionally heat homes with oil. And that it maintains a price high enough to encourage development but not too high to discourage use. Our energy needs are moving to exploit the only resources now available, which are typically deep, dirty, or dangerous. Sometimes all three. And always expensive.

An excellent essay on the current status of Nat Gas can be found at the Oil Drum:Natural Gas: The Squeeze at the Bottom of the Resource Triangle