Impact of Interfuel Competition, Technology and Institutional Factors on the Future Role of Natural Gas in the U.S. and World Energy Mix

摘要

There is little question of the global perception of the future role of natural gas - it is generally considered to be the ideal fuel for the transition from the era of predominant dependence on crude oil to whatever will prove to be a least-cost energy service strategy in the course of the next century. Currently, however, natural gas demand is limited not by supply but by price and the availability of competitive end-use technologies. Burnertip prices for gas must reflect how much gas is worth as an alternative to other energy service options. This is why, in much of the world today, the netback price to producers and exporters is set by the form value of gas in the large and readily switchable boiler-fuel market.