A surge in shale gas development has created popular conceptions that natural gas will smooth away America’s energy challenges, including our narrow dependence on oil.  Many different factors, however, will shape the role of natural gas in America’s energy future.  Key questions include:

  • What is the long-term supply and price outlook for conventional and unconventional gas?
  • How will competing uses for natural gas affect its availability as a substitute for oil?
  • What economic and technical factors will affect the scale of natural gas use for transportation?

Deborah Rogers
Financial Analyst; Advisory Council Member, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

Deborah Rogers began her financial career in London working in investment banking. Upon her return to the U.S., she worked as a financial consultant for several major Wall Street firms, including Merrill Lynch and Smith Barney. Ms. Rogers served on the Advisory Council for the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas from 2008-2011. She was appointed in 2011 by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to a task force reviewing placement of air monitors in the Barnett Shale region in light of air quality concerns brought about by the natural gas operations in North Texas. She is also the founder of Energy Policy Forum, a consultancy and educational forum dedicated to policy and financial issues regarding shale gas and renewable energy. In addition, she lectures on shale gas economics throughout the U.S. and abroad at Universities, business venues and public forums and has appeared on MSNBC and NPR. She has also been featured in articles discussing the financial anomalies of shale gas in the New York Times (June, 2011) and Rolling Stone Magazine (March, 2012). In addition, she will appear in the upcoming documentary GasLand 2.

Mukul Sharma
Professor, Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering, The University of Texas

Mukul M. Sharma is Professor and holds the “Tex” Moncrief Chair in the Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin where he has been for the past 27years. He served as Chairman of the Department from 2001 to 2005. He founded Austin Geotech Services, a specialty consulting company and co-founded Layline Petroleum, a private E&P company. His current research interests include hydraulic fracturing, improved oil recovery, injection water management, formation damage and petrophysics. He has published more than 250 journal articles and conference proceedings and has 12 patents.