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Looming Natural Gas Crunch Threatens EconomyPR Newswire - July 14, 2003WASHINGTON, Jul 14, 2003 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- The U.S. will face a natural gas supply shortage of major proportions this winter, with skyrocketing consumer prices and other economic damage as an inevitable result. This is the picture based on objective data measuring natural gas supply and demand and presented by leading energy industry experts who will confer in Washington next month to analyze the issue and seek solutions. These experts, meeting Aug. 18-19 at George Washington University (for "The Natural Gas Emergency 2003" conference), include representatives from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC), and the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. The fast-approaching natural gas crunch follows a decade's worth of serious imbalance in the nation's supply/demand equation, according to these and other experts. Natural gas has long been the fuel of choice for residential users, and demand for natural gas accelerated sharply in the 1990s. However, at the same time, many electric utilities shifted to the clean-burning fuel in order to meet tighter pollution control rules enacted by Congress. But the huge jump in natural gas consumption did not bring an accompanying increase in natural gas production, the experts say. Now, after a decade of this pattern, the inevitable has arrived: the demand for natural gas has begun to overwhelm supply. The big crunch, the experts say, will come this winter -- in the form of soaring prices American consumers will have to pay to heat their homes. The economic impact of a major supply crunch could extend far beyond the shock to consumers' pocketbooks. Already, some industrial users of natural gas are closing factories or moving abroad as a result of fuel shortages and higher prices. "A doubling of natural gas prices, which is what we've seen," could reduce the gross domestic product by more than two percent, according to Stephen Brown, director of energy economics at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. Brown will be a featured speaker at the conference, hosted by the King Publishing Group. Other conference presenters will include Bill Hederman, director of FERC's Office of Market Oversight & Investigations; Don Mason, vice chairman of NARUC's Natural Gas Committee, and member of the Ohio Public Utilities Commission; and representatives of leading energy companies. King Publishing Group, publisher of The Energy Daily, timed the conference to see what effect summer usage has had on natural gas supplies; to forecast when a consumer supply crunch would be most likely to hit; and to consider what remedial actions the nation should take. King Publishing Group hosts conferences on national issues, produces a public affairs TV program, and publishes industry newsletters. SOURCE King Publishing Group CONTACT: Grant Stockdale, +1-202-662-1555, john@kingpublishing.com; or Thomas Carter, +1-202-662-9714, tcarter@kingpublishing.com, both of King Publishing Group URL: http://www.kingpublishing.com Copyright (C) 2003 PR Newswire. All Rights Reserved. -
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