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http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/breakout/natural-gas-america-fuel-future-20110323-094805-684.html


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....Natural Gas: America’s Fuel of the Future?
By Jennifer Carinci | Breakout – 11 hours ago
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The nuclear-plant scare in Fukushima, Japan, has again forced the U.S. and President Obama to face what could be the greatest question of the century: What will fuel America toward energy independence? The answer could lie in one of the energy market's longest-running underdogs -- natural gas.

As an investment, it's the biggest loser in the energy complex, down nearly 6% in 2011, compared with crude oil's 12.5% gain and a whopping 20% rise for heating oil. Good old natty just can't make any sustainable gains, but veteran traders like Dan Dicker, author of the upcoming book "Oil's Endless Bid: Taming the Unreliable Price of Oil to Secure Our Economy," aren't giving up on the prospect that nat gas is on the brink of a breakout.

Like fellow believers, Dicker is putting his money where his mouth is, getting into gas producers such as Devon (DVN) and Apache (APA). He told Breakout "we'll be forced" to greatly expand the production and use of natural gas. (Dicker is not thrilled with energy futures ETFs, which he discussed in an earlier interview.)

Oil majors such as ExxonMobil (XOM) and Chevron (CVX) are also betting big on gas, exploring massive expansion in this space. Tapping into the U.S.'s own natural resources, Chevron expects to drill 70 wells this year in the Marcellus shale, the gigantic rock formation beneath Pennsylvania, New York and other states.

Despite the vast energy riches beneath the earth, nat gas has its own set of troubles. Safety and environmental concerns over producing the gas through hydraulic fracturing are under scrutiny. This method, which involves drilling through and shattering thousands of feet of rock formations, has been called out for creating carbon dioxide emissions and potentially harmful water contamination.

Still, supporters of natural gas, like Dicker, say it's "domestic, cleaner, abundant and cheap as hell."

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