Power Engineering - PGC supports National Petroleum Council recommendations for interdependent gas price policies

Washington, Sept. 29, 2003 -- The Process Gas Consumers Group (PGC) has joined with other industrial consumers to witness the unveiling of the National Petroleum Council study on natural gas supply and demand.

The study, entitled 'Balancing Natural Gas Policy --Fueling the Demands of a Growing Economy,' and conducted at the request of the Secretary of Energy, recommends a series of interdependent policies that, if implemented, will ensure adequate supplies of natural gas at reasonable prices.

Dena Wiggins, General Counsel of PGC, noted that the NPC reached out to a wide variety of industrial consumers for input into the study.

"PGC applauds the efforts by the NPC leadership to reach out to representatives from key sectors of the energy-intensive industries and to include industrial consumers in all phases of the study process."

Industrials purchase and consume natural gas as one of the requisite inputs in the processing and manufacturing of automobiles, aluminum, steel, metal products, fertilizer, alcohol, wallboard, insulation and other building products, paper products, plastics, glass, fiberoptics, food and grain products, and a host of other, readily recognizable commodities.

Much of the gas used by industrials is consumed in feedstock and process uses, for which other fuels are not physically or economically viable substitutes. For this reason, access to competitive, reasonably priced natural gas is absolutely crucial.

According to Wiggins, "sustained natural gas prices at high levels will cripple American industry and will impact our ability to compete in increasingly globally-competitive markets."

In offering support for the policy recommendation in the report, Wiggins noted: "Natural gas is a vital part of our economy. As a nation, we have made a commitment to natural gas as our fuel of choice. We have invested millions of dollars as we have made these choices - in infrastructure and in such things as natural gas furnaces to heat our homes, natural gas technologies to run our factories, and natural gas-based power generation for responsive, reliable power.

"On the other hand, we have witnessed the implementation of a mosaic of disparate policies that have hampered the ability of producers to explore for and produce natural gas, have hampered the ability of pipelines to bring supplies to consumer markets and have hampered the ability of industry and power generators to make rational fuel choices."

The NPC report concludes that in order to build a bridge to our energy future, the United States can not afford to continue these contradictory policies.

Wiggins added, "we are at a fork in the road. If we choose to continue the status quo, with our current set of policies, we will not have sufficient supplies of natural gas at reasonable prices. On the other hand, as discussed in this Report, we can take a series of aggressive actions to ensure that our country balances its overall economic and environmental policy goals with its energy policy objectives.

"In particular, we need conservation and energy efficiency, we need flexibility for industries and power generators to use a balanced portfolio of fuels, we need to increase the diversity of our gas supplies and we need to sustain our vast natural gas infrastructure."

The Process Gas Consumers Group is a national association of industrial gas consumers that require natural gas in many of their key operations. Through representation before legislative bodies, governmental agencies, courts and the general public, PGC works to promote coordinated, rational, and consistent federal and state policies relating to natural gas and its transportation.

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