Guess Who Stands to Benefit From President Obamas Push for Natural Gas?

“President Barack Obama pitched a plan on Thursday to boost U.S. use of natural gas and open more land for drilling,” Reuters reports. At one point, the president even referred to the U.S. and the “Saudi Arabia of natural gas.”

The president stressed the need for the U.S. to develop natural gas reserves because it would create jobs and provide “cleaner, cheaper” energy to American consumers.

The president also called attention to the booming natural gas sector, which has grown dramatically in recent years as advances in technology have unlocked vast new reserves, according to Reuters.

“Even if we tapped every drop of domestic oil, we’ve only got 2 percent of the world’s oil reserves,” the president said on his “campaign-style” tour. “We’ve got to have an all-out, all-of-the-above strategy, develop every available source of American energy.”

However, thanks to Lachlan Markay of The Heritage Foundation, there may be more to this story than the president’s alleged desire to create jobs, increase energy independence, and provide “cleaner, cheaper” energy.

First, as Heritage notes, the proposal is “remarkably similar” to the New Alternative Transportation to Give Americans Solutions (NAT GAS) Act. Secondly, as part of the White House’s proposal, incentives would be offered to companies to buy and use trucks powered by natural gas.

What does this mean?

“One company that stands to benefit handsomely from the president’s proposal is Westport Innovations,” Markay reports. “The company converts diesel engines to be fueled by natural gas. Wall Street analysts predicted a boom for the company if the NAT GAS Act were passed.”

In fact, CNBC analyst Jim Cramer said he “expects shares to absolutely explode” in the event the legislation were to pass:

Jim Cramer made positive mention of Westport, calling it a solid play on natural gas should Congress pass its pending Natural Gas Act. Westport converts diesel engines (i.e. – those found in semi trailers) into ones that run on natural gas.

Benefiting Westport is that it’s: A) basically first to the market, at least in terms of mass production, and B) high barriers of entry for competition because of the complex technology involved in the transformations.

Here’s the clincher: George Soros’ hedge fund holds 3,160,063 shares in Westport Innovation Inc. (as of its last SEC filing).

If Westport reaps the predicted windfall, George Soros will be one of the chief beneficiaries. That is to say, he will make a boatload of money if the president is successful in his push for natural gas.

But maybe the fact that Soros stands to benefit from the president’s clean energy pursuits is purely coincidental.

On the other hand, perhaps the fact that Soros has given $384,090 to the Democratic Party, Democratic PACs, and Democratic Candidates in the three election cycles beginning in 2008, including $4,400 to President Obama himself, makes this much more than coincidence.