Natural gas oversupply means lower prices

CLARKONOMICS: The story on energy has been ugly for a while now. Every extra dollar you spend at the pump is a dollar that you don't have for your own life, plus it goes to foreign enemies who may want to harm our country. But here's some good news: Natural gas, which is 97 percent domestically produced, is in oversupply. Just under 6 in 10 people heat their homes with it, including Clark. He also runs his car on the stuff, which emits minimal pollution compared to electricity, oil and other types of power.

Clark regularly tracks the price trends in oil and natural gas -- and the latter picture looks great. We had an affordable winter for heating with gas while people who heat their homes with oil have been hurting.

Don't expect n.g. prices to completely collapse; demand will continue because so many power providers can switch to burning gas to produce electricity. You will, however, see a lot of spin-off benefits for your wallet. Clark's home energy bills have been very reasonable. When he fills his car with n.g., it's so much cheaper than gasoline because the former doesn't have to be refined like oil. With oil, there are so many markups along the way from the ground to the pump. The "crack spread" refers to the markup that refineries puts on their finished product. That's before they ship it to gas stations for another markup! With natural gas, it's like a direct sale from the ground into your tank.