Tag Archives: supply

Dan Gibson Challenges, Price Volatility And The Role Of LNG In The Nation’s Energy Future

Posted on December 4, 2009 by Dan Gibson | 1 Comment


Chris McGill recently appeared in Oil and Pipeline Gas Journal. You can view the full article at Oil and Pipeline Gas Journal or read it below.

Chris McGill is the Managing Director Policy Analysis at the American Gas Association (AGA), which represents 202 local energy companies that deliver natural gas throughout the United States. There are more than 70 million residential, commercial and industrial natural gas customers in the U.S., of which 92% – more than 65 million customers – receive their gas from AGA members.

During his 21 years at the association, he has served as Manager Gas Supply, Director of Gas Supply and Statistics and Director of AGA’s Houston Office – in addition to his current position.
McGill’s work is in the assessment of future supplies of natural gas, domestic production, underground storage, key pipeline transportation issues, winter heating season planning and other related topics. He is an active spokesperson on many natural gas supply topics, representing local gas utility perspectives to the industry, regulators, legislators and the public. He has authored numerous articles, energy analyses and issue briefs on these subjects, as well as having created and managed statistical time-series data focused on key industry benchmarks.

In these especially challenging times, McGill had much to say during an interview with P&GJ.

Read the rest of the story →

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Chris McGill Natural gas energy supply: the real deal for America

Posted on November 2, 2009 by Chris McGill | Comments Off


America, let’s take an accounting of the latest instruments of facts that point to a fundamentally strong position in the United States for short- and long-term natural gas supply, as we debate our low-carbon energy future.

  • The year-end 2008 Potential Gas Committee (PGC) report of estimated natural gas resources in the United States points to more than 1,836 trillion cubic feet of potential resource evaluated. It is the largest aggregate estimate presented by the PGC in 44 years.
  • The Energy Information Administration just published their accounting for known reserves of natural gas, yesterday, October 30. The 245 Tcf reported is the largest volume ever identified by EIA, since they began keeping the reserves statistics in 1977. In addition, the volume of domestic gas production recorded in 2008 (20.5 Tcf), according to EIA, was the largest annual production number since 1974.
  • In the shorter-term, natural gas storage is at record levels and, in fact, the ability to store gas underground has grown, also.

These are not short-term phenomena. They are indications that natural gas is poised to serve a growing market of low-carbon fuel requirements.

America, this is the real deal.

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Dan Gibson Natural gas week on NPR

Posted on September 23, 2009 by Dan Gibson | 1 Comment


Does anyone call NPR National Public Radio anymore? Because they’re not just radio. I come across them quite a bit as I’m moving through the digital world. From their great iPhone app to discussion of their success on the social web and building community, NPR comes up quite a bit. The AIGA (they no longer go by American Institute of Graphic Arts) even did a case study examining NRP’s relaunch of npr.org.

But why am I writing about NPR all of a sudden on truebluenaturalgas.org?

Well, first a reminder that True Blue is a platform for AGA staff to talk about their interests, not necessarily natural gas related. Don’t get me wrong. If you want information on natural gas from the natural gas experts, you’re in the right place. But you’ll also have an opportunity to learn a little about these experts.

The other reason is NPR gives me a reason to write about their work here because they’re doing a pretty good impression of “natural gas week on NPR.”

They start off with an article by Tom Gjelten titled “Rediscovering Natural Gas By Hitting Rock Bottom.” Gjelten talks with Robert Hefner, identified as a veteran gas producer from Oklahoma. Hefner shares our view on abundance of the natural gas supply saying, “I used to say the nation is awash in natural gas. Now I say we’re drowning in it.”

The article touches on the Marcellus basin. Per the article, that basin alone is believed to hold as much as 500 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, the equivalent of about 80 billion barrels of oil.

Gjelten also touches on the potential environmental impact of switching to natural gas. Natural gas is cheaper than oil, and produces only about half the carbon dioxide that comes from burning coal.

The article finishes with a good quote from Christopher Flavin, president of Worldwatch Institute. “You can combine that with improvements in end-use efficiency and the development of renewable energy sources, and really see these as a partnership. Even the International Energy Agency is saying the path for oil is downward, and suddenly we’ve got this very different picture for natural gas,” says Flavin. “I think it’s unfortunately not fully percolated into the understanding of what’s possible among policymakers. But I think as that takes hold in the next few years, it’s really going to change the game.”

What do you think of the article?

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Mike Pomorski Smart Guy Committee

Posted on July 14, 2009 by Mike Pomorski | Comments Off


By now, you have almost certainly heard about the Potential Gas Committee’s (PGC) announcement that the total natural gas resource base in the United States has increased by 39% compared to previous estimates.  To say that the natural gas industry is pretty excited about the PGC report is a bit of an understatement.

But forget the natural gas industry for a second.  Are you excited about this announcement?  You probably should be.

Imagine that a highly regarded, independent group (let’s call them the “Smart Guy Committee”) made the following announcement:

The Smart Guy Committee (SGC) today released the results of its latest biennial assessment of the nation’s gasoline resources, which indicates that the United States possesses a total resource base of gasoline that is 39% larger than previously estimated. This is the highest resource evaluation in the Committee’s 44-year history… “The SGG’s year-end 2008 assessment reaffirms the Committee’s conviction that abundant, recoverable gasoline exists within our nation’s gas station storage tanks… The SGC cautioned, however, that the current assessment assumes neither a time schedule nor a specific market price for the discovery and production of future gasoline supply. “Estimates of the SGC are ‘base-line estimates’ in that they attempt to provide a reasonable appraisal of what we consider to be the ‘technically recoverable’ gasoline resource potential of the United States,” the SGC explained.

In other words, imagine that a respected, independent group announced that every gas station in the country just realized that they had almost 40% more gasoline in their storage tanks than they previously thought.  Now, a lot of this gasoline may be located in storage tanks at abandoned gas stations, in depopulated rural areas, in storage tanks that are hard to get to or are sealed off, or in other places that may be difficult and/or expensive to pump into your car.

Still.  This caveat, which is important, would not change the fact that if you operate one of the nation’s 136 million state-registered cars you would probably dance in the streets, since this supply situation is good news for you at the pump.

Well, about 65 million of you are residential natural gas consumers, and, surprise surprise, the “Smart Guy Committee” statement above is taken from the Potential Gas Committee Report, with “natural gas” changed to “gasoline.”  The analogy is far from perfect, since producing natural gas is much more complicated and expensive than pumping gasoline at a filling station, but you get the idea.  All of a sudden, the United States has almost 40% more of a critical energy resource that is clean burning and used by tens of millions of people.

So, are you excited?

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