The USA is the largest oil consumer in the world, followed by Europe, Asia and other regions. It consumes an estimated 20 million barrels of oil every day, which is 50% more than the oil consumption of the whole of the European Union with 60% more population density than the USA (Knittel 2012). The oil consumption of the USA is also twice the rate of the same in China. The USA is the largest oil importer in the world, importing more than 13.5 million barrels of oil per day, thereby accounting for more than 63% of the total daily oil consumption in the country (Cavell 2012). The USA accounts for roughly 10 million barrels of oil production every day, contributing to about 10% of the global oil production (Knittel 2012). Ever since, technological development in horizontal drilling deep underground has led to large scale discoveries of natural gas reserves in the USA, there has been a round of discussion going on the probability of the natural gas to replace oil. This paper will discuss in detail the future of natural gas in the USA, touching upon the benefits of replacing natural gas with oil, the use of natural gas in the transportation industry, the challenges standing as barrier to the use of natural gas and how these barriers can be overcome.
