May 2014, Vol. 241, No. 5

In The News

NGC: Natural Gas Met Challenge Of Winter

The natural gas industry performed reliably in the face of colder than normal temperatures and numerous record-setting demand days this winter, the industry’s Natural Gas Council (NGC) said. Freezing temperatures frequently covered large portions of the U.S. at once, placing exponentially greater pressure on peak-day demand for natural gas, with little recovery time between cold spells.

As the natural gas traveled along the supply and delivery chain, each segment of the industry played a key role in helping to ensure that customer demand was met.

“The shale technology revolution has made record amounts of natural gas available to the domestic market. For the first time in 25 years, we are producing more than 94% of the nation’s natural gas from resources here at home,” said Barry Russell, president and CEO of the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA). “Even in one of the nation’s coldest winters, this abundance has created a dependable, domestic supply of fuel for American households, electric power generation, as well as growing industrial and transportation markets.”

Marty Durbin, president and CEO of America’s Natural Gas Alliance (ANGA), said, “One lesson we learned from this record-breaking cold winter is that the resource is there to meet growing demand if the investment is there to get it to market. Natural gas prices on the Henry Hub stayed relatively low in comparison to past extreme weather events because we now have so much natural gas from geographically diverse regions of the country.”