Baker Institute conference looks at North American natural gas market

Baker Institute conference looks at North American natural gas market

BY FRANZ BROTZEN
Rice News Staff

Natural gas is rapidly moving from a commodity traded in regional markets to one that is traded globally. This will lead to an increased connectedness of markets in North America, Europe, Asia and Latin America. The implications are wide-ranging and important to policymakers, corporate planners and academicians.

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The Energy Forum at the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy, along with the Center for Energy Economics at the University of Texas at Austin, will host a conference Nov. 16 on “Natural Gas in North America: Markets and Security.” The event will be held in James A. Baker III Hall’s Kelly International Conference Facility.

The Energy Forum will address a series of difficult questions on the future of natural gas in North America and suggest appropriate frameworks for both market participants and policymakers to understand the risks associated with various outcomes.

Speakers at the event will include Karen Harbert, assistant secretary in the Office of Policy and International Affairs at the U.S. Department of Energy; Francisco Salazar, president of the Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) of Mexico; and Roland George, a member of the National Energy Board of Canada.

Four papers will be released at the conference from two different studies by Baker Institute researchers. The first study, sponsored by the Independent Petroleum Association of America, poses questions about access to domestic resources and the growth of international trade in liquefied natural gas and what each means for security of supply.

The second study, undertaken with collaboration and support from McKinsey & Co., poses questions on potential market size, particularly about growth in natural gas demand for power generation and the relationship between crude oil and natural gas prices.

The Baker Institute Energy Forum, led by Amy Myers Jaffe, will also present a report on the policy implications of the two studies. Jaffe is the Wallace S. Wilson Fellow in Energy Studies at the Baker Institute.

The Energy Forum’s North America Natural Gas program, led by Kenneth Medlock III, a fellow in energy studies at the Baker Institute, is actively engaged in research on various issues in natural gas markets both in North America and abroad. The Energy Forum’s ongoing development of the Baker Institute World Gas Trade Model is at the forefront of research on natural gas markets.

For details on the conference, including the agenda, go to http://www.rice.edu/energy/events/upcoming/NA_NG_Conference-Nov07.html. Rice faculty, staff and students who want to attend must R.S.V.P. by e-mail to  bipprsvp@rice.edu or by fax to 713-348-5993.