Exxon says N. America Gas Production Has Peaked  

I hope the reservoirs are huge and the plateau flat, as from what I have heard, once NG starts depleting it falls off a cliff.

Well - the reservoirs aren't in the same league as Russia's, Qatar's or Iran's - so I imagine they'll get drained in short order as everyone scrambles to import as much as they can over the next 20 years. And my understanding is the same as yours as regards the rapid dropoff for NG depletion.

Then we'll be down to coal, uranium and biofuels.

At some point we'll eventually be fully sutainable in terms of energy use (unless breeder reactors or fusion come along to save the day), but I'm starting to think the ride is going to get bumpier fairly soon.

I'd like to follow this statement from Exxon closely as Lee Raymond is the last one I thought would start talking about a peak.

Didn't Matt Simmons predict this a few years ago ?

The fact that Exxon thinks it worthwhile exploiting stranded arctic gas fields would probably indicate the peak for gas in north america is really here - so Raymond has nothing to lose by stating the obvious.

What now looks like a panicked rush to build LNG terminals would also seem to indicate plenty of people believe the decline will be rapid.