In an interview with CNBC, Boone Pickens stated that natural gas should be used as a transportation fuel because it is cheap and abundant. Pickens’ idea is a valid one, although oil shouldn’t be totally discarded as a transportation fuel.
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If we used natural gas to run even half our daily transportation needs, we could reduce our daily purchase of foreign oil by 6.25 million barrels of oil per day. This would in turn reduce the world demand to 78.75 million barrels a day, 6.25 million barrels less than the world’s present daily needs.
This daily surplus of oil would result in an almost instant drop in the price of oil, probably below $50 a barrel. The drop in domestic fuel prices would be less dramatic because the price of natural gas would surely increase.
We already have the technology to convert gasoline burning engines to natural gas burning engines. The technology is safe and inexpensive. While oil refiners might take an immediate economic hit, the rest of our economy would benefit, both locally and globally.
Boone Pickens has a great idea and I think it is time that we begin implementing it - or at least open the subject for a national debate. This article written by Eric Wilder