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ExpectMore.govExpectMore.gov home pageEXPECT FEDERAL PROGRAMS TO PERFORM WELL, AND BETTER EVERY YEAR.
 
Program Assessment

Program

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Natural Gas Technology

The Natural Gas Technology program conducts research and development to resolve the environmental, supply, and reliability constraints of producing natural gas resources. This research and development tries to advance technologies that industry can use to increase natural gas production.

Rating

What This Rating Means

NOT PERFORMING
Ineffective

Programs receiving this rating are not using your tax dollars effectively. Ineffective programs have been unable to achieve results due to a lack of clarity regarding the program's purpose or goals, poor management, or some other significant weakness.
  • Performance goals have been created, but progress has not been adequately assessed. The program measures performance by estimating additional natural gas reserves attributable to technologies developed by the program. The program is working to more clearly demonstrate the validity of its performance assessments, including through regular use of periodic, independent program evaluations.
  • Actual additional natural gas reserves attributable to technology developed by the program have been relatively small. Moreover as noted by the National Academy of Sciences: "It is difficult to separate the contributions made by the Department of Energy and contributions made by industry and others."
  • This program and other applied research and development programs at the Department of Energy are working to improve their estimates of potential program benefits and use that information to guide budget decisions. The program has made progress, but estimates are not yet comparable between programs because of different modeling methods and assumptions.

Improvement Plan

About Improvement Plans

We are taking the following actions to improve the performance of the program:

  • Working with the Congress to terminate the program this year. The private sector has the incentives and resources to perform this work, and the program has not demonstrated results.
  • Developing guidance that specifies a consistent framework for analyzing the costs and benefits of research and development investments, and using this information to guide budget decisions.

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