Most folks don’t get sentimental as they contemplate geophysical phenomena.

Besides, senior natural gas analyst Richard Procter is a hard-nosed scientist, an ultra-rationalist.

But when he reminisces about the “good old days” of the Devonian Reef, Procter sounds like a master jeweller, rhapsodizing about the Koh-i-Noor Diamond.

“That thing would produce like crazy for 25 years. Just . . . wow,” he whispered reverentially.

“But when those big ones go dry, you’re gonna have to drill thousands of itty bitty gas pools that’d be exhausted in 10 years.”

Procter was discussing the hard facts of gas with Ed Petrie and Rob Woronuk, two fellow members of the Canadian Gas Potential Committee, now preparing to issue its second blockbuster report (at $500 a pop, and more than $1,000 for the CD-ROM).

It’s a detailed, scientific estimate of the natural gas pools yet to be exploited across the country. It’s to be published in May, and has taken four years to prepare.

Experience generally teaches us to mistrust committees, from the Star Chamber down through the House Un-American Activities Committee. Remember, God asked a committee to design a horse, and wound up with a camel — plus a killer overtime bill.

But this is one spit-kicking panel.

Its 50-odd volunteer members — semi-retired industry experts — apply hectares of shared intellect, centuries of combined experience and oceans of elbow grease to this vital research assignment.

Headed by Roland Priddle, ex-chair of the National Energy Board, the Gas Potential Committee has no mandate to speculate on gas price trends.

But it doesn’t take an economist to conclude the obvious — the easy-access gas has been accounted for.

“Crisis (of supply) is too strong a word,” Procter cautioned.

“But our dependence on those beautiful Devonian gas fields is going to come to an end. We’re going to shift over to much smaller, lower-productivity pools,” he said.

Such pools are shallow and the industry can find them blindfolded.

“But it’s gonna take so blasted many of them to maintain the production we’ve become accustomed to. The inevitability, I think, is the price of gas keeps going up,” Procter shrugged.

OK, so the committee can’t offer much succour to us suckers . . . er, consumers. But that doesn’t detract from the importance of the report — the most complete scientific assessment of gas resources done in Canada.

“I don’t even think the U.S., or any other country, puts together estimates as good as these,” said Woronuk.

First struck in 1991, the committee was a response to industry demands for accurate reserve estimates, with an industry perspective. In other words, a study researched and authored by hands-on experts, instead of academic theorists.

The methodology is complex, and the (unpaid) hours are long.

His admiring colleagues say chief analyst Bob Meneley has just about reached the burnout point. He routinely logged 60-hour weeks while streaking toward deadline on both the 1997 report and the one to come.

“Magnificent,” Procter muttered in tribute.

Using a specialized software program created by the Geological Survey of Canada, Meneley breaks down, and melds, reams of data collected from B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories. Much of it, maddeningly, comes measured in differing units.

Each gas pool — 26,000 in Alberta alone — is coded to its respective “play.”

And a volunteer chairperson is assigned to each of about 15 groups of Canadian plays.

As Woronuk explains, the group determines “how many wells have been penetrated, how many discoveries have been made, what is the distribution and the timing of these discoveries . . .

“Using our expertise, you can come up with an idea of the size of the (undiscovered) pools, and how many there might be.”

Such research is then critiqued by the committee at large.

Then the corporate wizards take a crack at it.

“We go to an oil company and say: ‘Statistics tell us the second-largest pool in a certain play hasn’t been discovered,’ ” Procter ran down the drill.

“We ask: ‘Does that make sense? We know its probable size, we can cross-plot the pool area . . . to tell you how much volume it is.

“ ‘Could you have missed that with your geophysics?’ ”

Often, the answer’s yes — making the research a fantastic exploration tool.

And, needless to add, a bargain at twice the price.