Do you mind if I ask a few questions?

Why is it that private enterprise shouldn't profit from their investment?
If this company didn't have the resources to exploit the technology won't we benefit by Exxon bringing it to market?
Is it the governments role to decide who is allowed to sell various technologies?
Is profit bad?
Who is John Gault?

Your right - that is the way it needs to be . . . . but I recently agreed with JFM to have a Nuc plant in my town of Killingworth.

I know its not the way it could ever work . . . but in my heart . . . I would rather the US Navy run that plant than a publicly traded global energy conglomerate. I would feel safer.

There is actually competition within the natural gas industry for vehicle fuels including some smaller companies like Clean Energy (CLNE). Boone Pickens now has a big share, maybe controlling interest, but the company is small and Pickens is an out-of-the-box thinker.
Clean Energy has contracts with many cities for their vehicle fleets to run on natural gas. They make the conversions to the vehicles, set up the filling centers and do other logistical requirements. They also have been getting contracts with servicers that have big vehicle fleets like utilities and telcom outfits. I believe Verizon is switching over to natural gas vehicles soon.
There are a few equipment companies that make the conversion hardware. One is FSYS, can't remember the actual name, I go by ticker symbols mostly. They are just one of a few and not only are they profitable but they have a relatively low PE with good fundamentals. CLNE is not profitable since their positive cash flow is pushed back into the business for continual expansion which creates write-offs and losses but it is a going concern and other financial measureables show tremendous growth.
Exxon did buy into the industry in the past year because they see the handwriting on the wall. Using oil for transportation is probably a low margin business because the consumer is always pushing on pricing and a lot of the price is in taxes. Look at the refiners who have to buy oil, like VLO, TSO, FTO, WNR and the others, their margins get crushed with high oil prices. The integrated oil companies like Exxon, that drill and produce product, run cracking processes and market end products are much more profitable because they control their business from exploration to end product.
Oil used in products such as the plastic industry would likely have better margins due to the ability to functionally price the end product versus the cost-plus pricing of transportation fuels.
There is a surplus of natural gas now and the price is way down. As oil goes up so does natural gas in a somewhat linear relationship but since we control our own destiny with natural gas produced in North America, and we have an abundance of it, using it for critical applications frees us from global demand for oil, oil pricing monopolies and the problems of political unrest. Plus we keep the dollars here instead of sending them to our enemies.
To me, this is the only short term practical way to get out of our dependance on foreign oil. The positive impact to our Federal balance sheet would be enormous.

John & Buck,

Curious about something. If NG can be harvested in upstate New York and could be effectively/profitably sold in the American market at (hypothetically) $5 MBtu, but in Japan this winter they are willing to pay $8MBtu. Is it possible the US could become a net exporter of NG ?

I think I just saw COnrad on CNN shaking hands with that Obama guy,......CONRAD???????