Bush administration officials are worried about natural gas shortages this winter because of the disruption of wells in the Gulf.

“There are concerns about the supply of natural gas,” Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said Tuesday, a week after an agency in his department predicted that natural gas prices in some parts of the country will be 71 percent higher than they were during the last cold season.

Unlike oil, natural gas cannot be easily imported from overseas, so a domestic shortage cannot be made up.

Adding to the problem, natural gas production has been declining since it peaked in 2001. Industries have been compensating by switching to other energy sources, and mild winters have helped, but the added shutdown of Gulf production (one fifth of all U.S. production) may make shortages unavoidable.

And the Farmers Almanac is predicting a cold winter for the east coast. Might be a good time to look into corn burning stoves.