CONCEPTS FOR INCREASED NATURAL GAS SUPPLYA PIPELINE PERSPECTIVE

摘要

In today's marketplace natural gas is a commodity. As with any commodity, there are five essentialmajor characteristics to consider; these are: Supply, Demand, Logistics, Price and Risk. Each of thesecharacteristics influences and is in turn influenced by each of the others. For the purposes of this paper, the termLogistics encompasses functions such as marketing, transportation and distribution (the linking of supply andmarket). This paper presents a transmission pipeline perspective and provides insight into the current global energyand natural gas supply and demand situation as well as an outlook for the future. It discusses the requirements forfuture major pipeline developments in the next twenty (20) years and highlights the significant structural changesthat have been and are occurring in the pipeline industry. The paper illustrates some of the opportunities, challenges,issues and factors that will be faced by pipeline developers and operators as natural gas supplies are brought to themarketplace during the 21st century. It further discusses the impact of a broad range of topics from a pipelineperspective. These include marketplace, project economics, technological trends, regulatory impacts, globalization,and the evolution of electronic commercial arrangements (e-gas). The paper provides an overview that indicates howthe forecast trends and changes in the pipeline industry will positively affect the energy industry’s ability to increasenatural gas and therefore energy supply.