Good news! Parts of the world, including the United States, appear to be coming out of recession. But as economic activities intensify, the nation's demand for energy will also increase, and this energy has to be either produced or imported.

Utah is in a geologically favorable situation, especially given its abundant natural gas resources, to contribute to U.S. energy security as well as the economic development of the state. But this requires farsighted plans of action.

The Energy Information Administration has projected natural gas prices to rise from $3.92 per thousand cubic feet in 2009 to $5.48 on average in 2010. In the long term, U.S. natural gas consumption is expected to increase because of both economic and environmental propositions. Efforts to curb the emission of the atmospheric greenhouse gas carbon dioxide require switching to energy resources with lower carbon footprints. Natural gas releases 30 percent less carbon dioxide than oil and 44 percent less than coal.

Energy security considerations also call for increase in production of natural gas. Currently the United States produces about 18.7 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of natural gas (non-associated with oil) but uses 22.5 tcf annually, importing the remaining from Canada and Mexico. EIA hopes that by 2030, the U.S. imports of natural gas will decrease from the current 17 percent to 3 percent. To do that, domestic production will have to increase by 4.3 tcf annually.

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Natural gas is largely used for heating and power generation, and only 0.02 percent of natural gas is used as vehicle fuel.

T. Boone Pickens' dream of natural gas vehicles as a way of cutting U.S. imports of oil ( Tribune , Oct. 15, Opinion) requires massive development of domestic natural gas resources.

All these factors play favorably for Utah and the other Rocky Mountain states, which hold enormous reserves of proven and yet-to-be-discovered gas resources. These include both conventional gas reservoirs as well as unconventional gas in tight (low-permeability) sandstones, shale and coal beds. Utah's proven natural gas resources are about 6.1 tcf, ranking eighth in the country. But the U.S. Geological Survey estimates that there is 14 to 26 tcf of undiscovered gas in the Uinta Basin and 0.3 to 1.1 tcf in the Paradox Basin in southeast Utah.

To better develop Utah's natural gas resources, four broad plans of actions are necessary.

First, promoting Utah's opportunities and incentives for gas exploration and production. Two decades ago, major oil companies pulled out of the Rockies, but gas production and consumption is more regionalized than that of oil, and Utah has an attractive position and ventures to offer.

Second, investments in research and development to better characterize the reserves, reservoir rocks, drilling and production of natural gas in Utah's basins. Such projects are more effective if conducted collaboratively by universities, state agencies and the industry.

Third, expanding energy geoscience and gas technology education to train a skilled, technical labor force locally.

Four, increasing pipeline capacity. As the local market for gas consumption is relatively small in Utah (consuming 0.23 tcf a year or 1 percent of the U.S. consumption), pipeline infrastructures to deliver gas to the much larger markets and populations in the eastern United States or California will increasingly become crucial.

Rasoul Sorkhabi is a research professor at the University of Utah's Energy and Geoscience Institute.