Fantastic article on Natural Gas --a longer term perspective
hubbertpeak.com
. This schedule is now being crimped by Sunbelt air conditioners, whose demand for gas-fired electricity is soaring. Gas used to keep us warm; now we ask it to keep us cool, too. Since the storage system was never sized for the A/C load, we've depleted our storage cushion. In March 2001, gas-in-storage reached its lowest level in history. Pipelines are another critical part of the gas puzzle. Without a pipeline, natural gas is worthless, a constraint first recognized by the Chinese. They were drilling for gas in 1000 A.D.-but their pipeline materials were limited to bamboo. American pipelines today could stretch to the Moon. Most date to post-World II, when Gulf Coast supplies were tied to markets in the Midwest and New England. Since pipelines are prone to corrosion, beer keg-sized diagnostic tools called "pigs" are pushed through the lines to search for weak spots, not always in time. In August, 2000, a pipeline exploded in New Mexico, killing 10 people, and crimping gas deliveries to California. Many aging pipelines need to be rebuilt, replaced, or expanded to deliver more gas to urban areas, where the new fleet of gas-fired power plants will be moored. In December 2000, gas delivered to L.A. briefly fetched $69, equivalent to $400 for a barrel of oil. |
