Taxing times in the Rockies

New pipeline capacity is urgently needed to bring gas from the US' Rocky Mountains to market, writes Anne Feltus

THE ROCKY Mountains has become the US' fastest-growing onshore source for natural gas. The US Department of Energy says it could eventually overtake the Gulf of Mexico as the country's largest gas-supply region. The Rockies' proved reserves have tripled in the last three decades, according to Wood Mackenzie, a consultancy. The US Minerals Management Service forecasts that natural gas production from the Rockies, which traverse Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico, will grow from 3.7 trillion cubic feet (cf) in 2003 to 5.6 trillion cf in 2025. Low prices hit profits However, there is a dark side to this otherwise bright picture: local demand is seasonal and somewhat modest.