Natural Gas markets in USA and Canada are among the most developed of the world.Together, they account for about one fourth of the global gas production/consumption. Currently,USA is the second biggest producer and importer of natural gas, and Canada is the third largestproducer and exporter. Those markets experienced a relevant growth through the last decades.Its consumption spread through various segments in economy, reaching a share of about onefourth of the primary energy mix in those countries.This rapid expansion brought concerns over the sustainability of natural gas’ reservesproduction in the region. By the end of the nineties, R/P ratio in those countries fell to levels below10 years. The sense that the region would have to import increasing volumes of natural gas led tothe construction of several regasification terminals along the coast soon after.This decline of R/P ratio became to change in the 2000′s, with the development ofunconventional resources. Technological developments in horizontal drilling and multi-stagefracturing made economically feasible the exploitation of natural gas from rock formations that areusually more difficult and expensive to produce (unconventional), such as Coal Bed deposits, TightSands and Shales. This brought a new perspective for the availability of natural gas in the region.However, with the severe economic downturn faced by those economies in 2008 and 2009,natural gas prices have fallen drastically. Many wells that were being explored were notcompleted. Additional LNG regasification terminals were postponed or cancelled, due to idlecapacity in the existing terminals.Despite the recent crisis, natural gas industry has experienced some important changes inthose countries, that could play a structural shift in those markets, in terms of increasing its supplyand reducing its dependency from other regions.Within this context, the article intends to present the main aspects of the natural gasmarkets in the USA and Canada and discuss what are the more significant Opportunities andChallenges related to this energy source in those countries, in the medium/long term.
展开▼
