An H&P rig stands tall at an ExxonMobil natural gas drilling site in the Piceance Basin in Rio Blanco County, Colorado, June 22, 2009. (Courtney Perry/Dallas Morning News/MCT) View more photos
DALLAS -- T. Boone Pickens, who has spent more than a year telling Americans the answer to their energy woes is natural gas, says the U.S. natural gas supply will probably dry up in about 30 years.
At that point, Americans will have to find some other technology to fuel vehicles, Pickens said during a speech Thursday at the University of Texas at Dallas.
"Natural gas is just a bridge," he said.
"Twenty-five, 30 years is what we're going to get out of it. Then you'll have to get over to either fuel cells or battery. You'll have to be on to some other transportation fuel by then," he said.
Pickens has spent $62 million of his own money, and most of his time since July 2008, promoting the Pickens Plan to get the U.S. off of foreign oil. He suggests switching vehicles to domestic natural gas instead of using foreign oil. He also wants the country to add more wind power to the electrical grid.
Pickens, a geologist who became a billionaire by operating a hedge fund, is pushing Congress to pass a law to convert the 7 million 18-wheelers in the U.S. to natural gas.
He said the conversion would take about seven years. It could save the country from importing 2.5 million barrels of oil each day, or about half what the U.S. gets from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
Pickens predicted that oil prices will rise to $300 a barrel in the next 10 years if the world doesn't cut demand. He said oil companies struggle just to maintain current levels of production, and he doubts they could increase supply.
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