The Oil Drum

This site generally focuses on the world situation in regard to oil production.  However, given the concerns that are beginning to arise about the supplies of natural gas this winter, it is important to also keep an eye on the situation there.  The NYT has just drawn a worrying, but sadly not unexpected, picture of the growing problems that industry and the country will face as natural gas supply and demand entangle. The tenor of the article relates to the costs pointing out that the United States now has the highest prices of any industrialized country. More than half the homes in the country are heated by natural gas, and because of potential shortages, industry may face shut-down since dwellings have priority in times of shortage.  This is not new, the impact of higher prices has already driven some industries abroad.

We need to declare a national crisis," Andrew N. Liveris, the chief executive of the  Dow Chemical Company, said in recent testimony before the Senate. Dow, the nation's largest chemical maker, has shut 23 plants in the United States in the last three years in places like Somerset, N.J.; South Charleston, W.Va.; and Elizabethtown, Ky., as it shifted production to Kuwait, Argentina, Malaysia and Germany, where natural gas is cheaper.

"Call it demand destruction," Mr. Liveris said. "Dozens of plants around the country have closed their doors and gone away, and are never coming back."

And while the article suggests that some of the problem arises from the loss of production in the Gulf, there are other causes.