“Natural gas will displace coal. It will displace oil”

The big drill

"What energy crisis? Despite what you may be hearing about a global peak in oil production, waning reserves, and $100-plus oil prices, North America is suddenly awash in fossil fuel.

Sophisticated new drilling methods and a shared epiphany among exploration companies about the vast potential for new natural gas production from deep underground shale deposits have overturned decades of gloom about waning gas supplies.

“Natural gas will displace coal. It will displace oil,” said Mike Graham, Canadian foothills division president for Calgary-based gas giant EnCana. “There is no reason North America shouldn’t be energy self-sufficient if we can displace a lot of the oil with natural gas...”