to hover around $ 3. in the short run, exporters to the united states are likely to receive our domestic price, currently above $ 6 per million btu. but unless world gas markets tighten aggressively, competitive pressures will arbitrage the u. s. natural gas price down, possibly significantly, through increased imports. in addition to expanded supplies from abroad, north america still has numerous unexploited sources of gas production. significant quantities of recoverable gas reserves are located in alaska and the northern territories of canada. negotiations over the construction of pipelines connecting these northern supplies to existing delivery infrastructure are currently under way. * * * the dramatic changes in technology in recent years have made existing oil and natural gas reserves stretch further while keeping energy costs lower than they otherwise would have been. seismic imaging and advanced drilling techniques are facilitating the discovery of promising new reservoirs and are enabling the continued development of mature fields. but because of inexorably rising demand, these improved technologies have been unable to prevent the underlying long - term prices of oil and natural gas in the united states from rising. conversion of the vast athabasca oil sands reserves in alberta to productive capacity has been slow. but at current market prices they have become competitive. moreover, new technologies are facilitating u. s. production of so - called unconventional gas reserves, such as tight sands gas, shale gas, and coalbed methane. production from unconventional sources has more than doubled since 1990 and currently accounts for roughly one - third of u. s. dry gas production. according to projections from the energy information administration, most of the growth in the domestic supply of natural gas over the next twenty years will come from unconventional sources. in many respects, the unconventional is increasingly becoming the conventional. in the more distant future, perhaps a generation or more, lies the potential to develop productive capacity from natural gas hydrates. located in marine sediments and the arctic, these ice - like structures store immense quantities of methane. although the size of these potential resources is not well measured, mean estimates from the u. s. geological survey indicate that the united states alone may possess 200 quadrillion cubic feet of natural gas in the form of hydrates. to put this figure in perspective, the world's proved reserves of natural gas are on the order of 6 quadrillion cubic feet. * * * in the decades ahead, natural gas and oil will compete in the united states with coal, nuclear power, and renewable sources of energy

" basket " of commercial activities or that would have allowed commercial firms to acquire a small bank without becoming subject to the bhc act. 3 it also is unclear what activities would be considered " commercial " or " financial " for ilc owners under h. r. 698. the bill does not define " financial " activities by reference to the glb act and, thus, would allow the development of a different definition of " financial " activities than the definition established for financial holding companies in the glb act. this potentially would allow the owners of ilcs to engage in activities that would be " financial " under h. r. 698, but that would be considered commercial under the glb act. the question of whether to allow firms engaged in commercial activities to own or acquire an insured ilc is one that has potentially far - reaching implications for the structure and soundness of the american economy and financial system. this is especially true because pressures likely will build to expand to banking organizations more generally any new policy applied to the owners of ilcs. once permitted, any general mixing of banking and commerce also is likely to be difficult to disentangle. we believe it is important that congress, as it has in the past, set the nation's policies with respect to the proper mixing of banking and commerce and consider carefully and deliberately whether any changes to the nation's policies on this important issue should be made. once these decisions are made, we see no reason to generally exempt the owners of insured ilcs from the policies established by congress : these policies should be applied to all owners of full - service insured banks. bank affiliations with financial firms besides restricting the mixing of banking and commerce, congress also has placed preconditions on the ability of banks to affiliate with firms that are purely financial. the glb act allows a bank holding company to engage in a broad range of financial activities, including securities underwriting, various insurance activities and merchant banking, only if the holding company keeps all of its subsidiary depository institutions well capitalized and well managed and achieves and maintains at least a satisfactory community reinvestment act ( cra ) record at all of the company's subsidiary insured depository institutions. these requirements help ensure that banks operating within a diversified financial company remain financially and managerially strong and help meet the credit needs of their entire communities, including low and moderate - income families and communities. the ilc exception undermines these requirements by allowing financial firms