"Critics of the bill that passed the committee argue it will hit manufacturers hard as they are forced to switch from coal to natural gas for their energy needs, creating a price spike in natural gas due to a big increase in demand. However, the natural gas industry is disputing scenarios forecasting galloping gas demand"
"Some manufacturing lobbies argue that the Senate bill - and its House counterpart - will send natural gas prices through the roof."
I do not understand where their concern is, so long as they do not throw some magical switch, switching all coal to natural gas produced electricity overnight, shouldn't the O&G companies be able to bring additonal production on line from the Shale plays? While there may be slight increases due to demand, overall increased production should be able to keep up and keep the prices in check, right?
Bill R - See if this helps you understand some concerns. By virtue of the way gas prices are/are not regulated, they are more unstable & volatile than other energy supplies. I suggest also checking out references in the footnotes. 80)
Permalink Reply by RBH on December 29, 2009 at 15:52
I received in a daily gas report today that in EIA report
despite a 50% reduction in rig count from a year ago, October 2009 production was down less than 1% from August 2008