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Natural Gas Leaders Assess North American Resource Availability, Deliverability and Cost at GasMart 2008, NGI Reports

Posted on: Wednesday, 23 April 2008, 15:00 CDT

The rapidly developing natural gas shale play in the outer regions of British Columbia, among the latest North American natural gas hotspots, is just one element of the complex and shifting development and delivery systems that will be assessed by industry leaders at the upcoming GasMart 2008, the annual natural gas market meeting coming up in Chicago May 20-22.

In Canada for instance, new resource developments are marching in tandem with new developing markets, including increased gas use in eastern Canada and for power generation, and the escalating development of Canadian oilsands using natural gas.

Nexen Inc., in an announcement Tuesday, estimated it had discovered 3-6 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of recoverable natural gas in its winter drilling operations in the Horn River Basin in northeastern BC. This builds on recent revelations of major discoveries in that basin by other major shale players, including EOG Resources and Apache Corp.

All that new gas is not likely to follow the traditional path to market. Typically an average of 60% of Canadian gas, primarily from Alberta, had funneled directly into U.S. markets. Today a restructuring is underway, and new routes are being proposed to send both new and old production into the changing North American marketplace.

Nexen's David Slater, a Managing Director with Nexen Marketing, will be pulling the Canadian picture together for GasMart 2008 attendees. But, the message those attendees will hear from Slater and other industry leaders will point to the number of moving parts to the equation. Those in the natural gas market will have to stay in touch to make it work for them.

That holds true across the continent as natural gas energy continues to gain ground as a basic fuel. Producers, marketers and energy purchasers for industrials, power generators and local distribution companies will be meeting at GasMart 2008 to hear from key industry leaders and discuss the changing market with their colleagues in GasMart's Market Network Center.

It's all about resource availability, deliverability and cost.

The pressure is on natural gas to explore, expand and deliver as the only major "acceptable" transition fuel to a cleaner world. GasMart speakers and sponsors assembled by Intelligence Press, Inc. for this 22nd annual event will report on the status of North American supply and infrastructure, the availability of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and the potential for a massive boost from Alaska. Besides exploration and drilling they will be discussing new pipelines, storage fields, and LNG facilities that will deliver the increasingly vital product.

Brian Frank, President of BP Energy Company, North America Gas & Power and Kathleen Eisbrenner, Executive Vice President, Global LNG, Shell Gas and Power International, will keynote GasMart 2008. Their companies will be among the sponsors meeting with customers in the GasMart Market Network Center.

Also offering their insight will be Will Hussey, Senior Vice President, Origination, of ConocoPhillips and David Slater, Managing Director, Marketing & Structured Products for Nexen Marketing. Executives from pipeline leaders TransCanada and Kinder Morgan's Rockies Express Pipeline will discuss deliverability and storage.

How do you structure transactions and handle risk? Prospective buyers can get the answers from representatives of EnergyUSA, Integrys, OGE Energy Resources, and Wachovia. Others offering market insight will be Porter Bennett, President of Bentek Energy, the industry's premier data collection and analysis firm, Aaron Studwell, Meteorologist & Sr. Manager, Research & Analytics, Weather Insight, and Jim Osten, Principal, North American Energy Services, Global Insight (USA), Inc.

Purchasers will be taking an active role in this year's GasMart. The Process Gas Consumers (PGC), an organization of industrial natural gas users, is a sponsor and will be hosting a special luncheon for end users. Alex Strawn, Purchasing Group Manager, North American Energy for Procter & Gamble, will address the GasMart audience, as will buyers for Alcoa, ArcelorMittal USA Inc., Potash Corp., Abbot and USG Corp.

The IntercontinentalExchange will have a workshop on electronic trading and host the main GasMart reception. The New York Mercantile Exchange is sponsoring attendance at a Chicago White Sox game and the North American Energy Credit and Clearing Corp. is hosting a golf tournament at the Harborside International club.

The GasMart program and Market Network Center will be in the headquarters hotel, the Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers. The event is hosted by Intelligence Press, Inc., which has been reporting on natural gas market news and prices for 27 years and now carries the news real-time at intelligencepress.com

Go to gasmart.com for more information and to register.

Source: Business Wire

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