Western Colorado has 40 times more natural gas than previously thought, potentially making it the second-largest formation in the country, the U.S. Geological Survey said Wednesday. Mancos Shale formation in Colorado’s Piceance Basin holds about 66.3 trillion cubic feet of gas, up from 1.6 trillion estimated in 2003, the USGS said, citing new research. A trillion cubic feet of natural gas is enough to heat 15 million homes for a year, the U.S. Energy Department said. The U.S. already has 2.9 trillion cubic feet of the fuel that has been extracted and put into storage, which has weighed on natural-gas futures prices . The contract for July delivery fell 0.6 cent, or 0.2%, to $2.468 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Wednesday. David Ludlam, executive director of the […]