Word: naturale
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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That's no reason to party. Here's why: unlike the global crude-oil market, the market for natural gas is incredibly localized. The U.S. produces nearly 90% of what it consumes, and the rest is imported from Canada or from overseas - the latter amounting to only about 2.5% of...
Nor can we quickly expand gas consumption. At this stage, anyone who can use natural gas instead of crude oil is already burning gas, as the price goes lower still. There is really only one other form of energy that natural gas will replace - coal. Yes, in some geographic areas...
So demand for gas, despite its low price, stays relatively low. Then layer on the effects of the recession: gas-intensive industrial production is down 12.8% since this time last year, according to Barclays Capital bank estimates. On top of that, there's weather: this has been a cool summer...
On the supply side, gas output from drilling has been much greater than anticipated, leading to a surplus that has deflated prices. This in turn has made many drilling operations unprofitable. The number of natural gas rigs operating in the U.S. has fallen well over 50% in the past year...
Take no comfort in that excess. Unlike crude, natural gas cannot be stored just anywhere we want; we also cannot transport it very easily. Gas is typically stored in underground reservoirs. The pressure of the gas and the type of reservoir can make injection and extraction cycles difficult and lengthy...