Commodity price upheavals are energizing gas utilities to evolve their business models.
Top officials at several U.S. retail gas companies reveal how they are rethinking their business models and developing new approaches to serve customers in the face of supply concerns and price volatilities.
Benefits and drawbacks of the most popular estimation methods or modeling techniques.
Before we go about trying to value natural-gas storage, we should try and come up with a list of important considerations in any valuation process. Also, the data requirements should be modest, and the calculation time should be reasonable. But not all gas storage valuations are created equal.
Interchangeability issues threaten to delay vitally needed LNG projects.
Gas composition issues have become a significant hurdle for the industry. Resolving these challenges will not be easy, requiring all stakeholders to apply a thoughtful approach to understanding the issues.
Better designs are needed to realize the goal of lower-cost gas.
A gas procurement incentive mechanism that provides strong incentives for a broad range of procurement-related costs and revenues, using a benchmark that is both exogenous and adaptive to external circumstances, can benefit consumers.
Some supplies may not make it to U.S. ports.
With the dramatic growth of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) trade worldwide and increased dependence on LNG as the gas fuel of the future, gas-utility companies at the end of the chain need to question whether the LNG chains are still safe, reliable, and well managed. But before diving in to some of the risks, it should be pointed out that historically LNG chains have been safe.
Gas utilities and state commissions must work together to help preserve rates of return, encourage conservation, and lower customers’ bills.
An economic perspective on long-term contracting for gas pipeline service.
Presenting a program to stimulate robust coal-gasification technology deployment at low federal cost.
Federal loan guarantees and other incentives can clear the hurdles to near-term deployment of gasification technologies.
Gas distributors tell how their business strategies are changing in response to issues such as higher gas prices, electric M&A, LNG, and gas pipeline development.
Commercialization of methane recovery from coastal deposits of methane hydrates could head off an impending gas shortage.