Natural Gas Solutions

The global energy system and almost every economy relies on or is impacted by natural gas supply. US shale gas led to a dramatic shift in energy market dynamics not just domestically but globally. While US natural gas E&P continues to evolve, and prices increasing - LNG continues to be in high demand both in Asian markets and Europe due to significant supply disruption. ​

Geological, technological, environmental, economic and political factors – both locally and globally combine at speed and lead to volatility and uncertainty. Therefore comprehensive, intelligent and trusted insight is needed for participants and stakeholders to de-risk critical strategic and commercial decisions. ​

With natural gas a major component of the energy system today, it is critical to understand its role and impact as in the path to net-zero and will see continued increasing demand for the foreseeable future. Additionally, lifecycle emissions reduction is changing the face of carbon accounting and supply chain management. ​

How natural gas is extracted has knock-on effects for the rest of the value chain and end-use markets. Knowing which E&P and midstream operators are committed to emissions reduction and how they are measuring their carbon footprint is important to the petrochemical, power, utility, consumer brand, financial and commodity trading industries reliant on natural gas. They can appropriately report on the full carbon footprint of the company and the goods and services they buy, trade or sell.​

The power and utilities sector are adopting more sources of renewable energy like solar, wind, thermal and hydrogen to reduce their dependence on traditional hydrocarbons (oil, gas and coal). In the US alone, natural gas generates 31.7% of the country’s electricity . While renewable energy sources are an important part of the overall energy mix and are critical for a carbon neutral economy, they rely on the metals and mining industry for the materials used in batteries, solar panels, wind turbines and more. As natural gas burns cleaner than its coal and oil counterparts, has sufficient supply and infrastructure, and can be exported via LNG, we expect it to be a big contributor for power and heat generation. However, the rise of renewables and natural gas usage does emphasize the need for understanding the entire value chain. Regional and global markets will be competing for the same supply. The context for price fluctuations and market dynamics will afford the power and utilities sector visibility to improve forecasting, budgeting, and purchasing.

COP 26, Scopes 1, 2, & 3, IMO 2020 and an enormous amount of country and state legislation around decarbonization is creating new complexities for the energy industry. As regulatory frameworks are announced, each sector will have specific guidelines to follow that will change how they operate, where they invest, how they purchase, how they raise capital, and how they appraise new opportunities. As companies evaluate their path to compliance, they must consider their full value chain from supply to finished and sold goods as their strategy is only as good as its weakest link. Staying current on new policies and understanding how it will impact your business requires extensive experience across several sectors in the natural gas market.

Hydrogen can be used as fuel in the transport sector, heat generation in industrial, residential, and commercial sectors, as well as power generation. While neither as cheap and convenient as coal or natural gas nor as versatile as electricity with innovation and expansion of carbon capture and storage and water electrolysis to produce hydrogen from natural gas as well as other renewable sources could create an attractive, sustainable and economically viable, low-carbon option for the future.

Does the world have the right infrastructure in place to support an increase in natural gas demand? Wells, gathering lines, pipelines, compressor stations, separation facilities, LNG terminals, regasification plants, and more are needed to support the natural gas value chain. Knowing the capacity, processing technology, flow rates, maintenance schedules and new builds helps companies anticipate and plan for changes in natural gas, NGL, LPG and LNG availability. They need to know how far the gas has to travel and at what cost.