If the US has 35% of the natural gas reserves why is natural gas so expensive in the US?

Question

If the US has 35% of the natural gas reserves why is natural gas so expensive in the US?

Answer 1

                       US  has 35% of N. gas but they don't use it now. u c

          it is a  RESERVE.... they r reserving for future.........and now they r importing from OPEC nation (mainly midle east) and also latin america =venezeulia( hav doubled the price for political reasons )

      u c the researches r telling dat within years there will be a deep decline in nat. gas accross the world.........

   and at that time USA will start producing and using their reserve

Answer 2

The supply is somewhat inflexible, it is dangerous to transport, and of course supplies are of necessity, constantly dwindling.  Natural gas is a clean burning fuel, increasing demand, but it is difficult to add supply to meet added demand, hence price increases.  An over simplified example would be a farmer who planted an orchard.  The farmer cannot quickly add supply even if a fad for apples suddenly happens and instead of the usual 100 people wanting apples, the farmer has 200 people show up.  What will happen is that the 100 people who value the apples the most and will pay the highest prices will get the apples and 100 people will walk away without apples.  Because it will take years for new trees to bear good fruit, and possibly additional land will have to be purchased, prices will be high even if the farmer has 100% of the world's supply of apples.  Likewise, if an apple health scare happens and only 50 people come, prices are unlikely to fall enough to even get the entire harvest sold, but the farmer would be unwise to cut down trees unless the scare is long lasting, yet if they do not destroy crops the farmer will be accepting prices at below cost.  That is the reason gasoline prices are so volatile, if everyone in the United States drove to Kansas on a pilgrimage, the system could not handle the added demand unless prices skyrocketed  to the point enough people decided to stay home because they could not afford the gasoline.