Natural gas by the numbers

Current and historic prices of natural gas - -

• Current U.S. futures price - - $1.984 per 1,000 cubic feet
• All-time low - - $1.32 (January 13, 1995)
• All-time high - - $15.38 (December 13, 2005)
• 10-year average - - $5.96
• Current price in Asia - - $15.90
• Current price in Europe - - $9.37

From October to March households spent $868 on average on natural gas, a decline of 17% from the previous winter (the mild winter was the primary cause and one of the reasons behind the rapid decline in natural gas prices in the U.S.).  Those savings have helped to relieve the burden of rising gasoline prices.  Households spent $1,940 on gasoline from October to March, a 7% increase from the same period a year ago.

Our boom in natural gas has the potential to create two related booms.  The first is a natural gas liquefaction boom - - liquefy it and export it to Asia and Europe, where it fetches far higher prices.  This would be a boom for engineers and construction firms.  The second boom would be generated by turning it into diesel or ethanol for the transportation markets.  This would be another boom for engineering.

Natural gas has the potential to have a huge multiplying effect - - from lowering the cost of manufacturing to liquefaction innovation to fuel for my car.  It will be interesting to see how this boom plays out economically on the global stage.  Turning the world from coal and oil to an energy platform dominated by natural gas will be a career opportunity for many engineers and engineering/construction firms.

I think the upcoming issue of Fortune has the cover story on the new era of natural gas.