Natural Gas Shortage Research Articles

Supply reliability analysis of natural gas pipeline network based on demand-side economic loss risk

• An evaluation method for the economic loss risk on the demand side of a natural gas pipeline network system in a certain period is proposed. • User priorities are considered when there is a shortage of gas in the pipeline network. • The economic consequences on the demand side are quantified in terms of the alternative energy costs. • The effect of supply sequence of users on gas supply reliability is described. Most studies on the natural gas supply reliability evaluation have reflected on whether the volume of gas supply to users is sufficient. However, different types of users suffer from the same natural gas shortage, the consequences of loss are different. The abundance of the supplied gas volumes does not reflect the actual losses incurred by users. Moreover, when a gas shortage occurs, the supply flow of different types of users is redistributed according to the supply order. Therefore, this study proposes an evaluation method for the gas supply reliability based on demand-side economic risk. The user's supply sequence is integrated into the cost matrix to optimize the distribution of the user's demand flow under gas shortage. A calculation model of the economic loss cost is established using alternative energy sources. Finally, a reliability index is established based on economic risk to evaluate the degree of supply security. The results showed that the reliability based on the economic risk assessment was slightly higher than that based on the gas quantity assessment. The reliabilities were 99.988% and 99.991%, respectively. The economic risk is reduced and the reliability is improved for the important users after considering the influence of the demand-side supply order.

Potential Solutions for the Short to Medium-Term Natural Gas Shortage Issues of Europe: What Can Qatar Do?

European countries are required to look for alternative gas suppliers to deliver energy security for Europe. Qatar has been proposed to be an alternative gas supplier; however, there are problems that limit Qatar from exporting more gas to Europe, namely: the limited LNG quantities available for export, the long-term fixed contracting strategy, and the lack of room to receive additional gas in European LNG terminals. As these problems are critical and limit Qatar from exporting more gas to Europe, this research aims to propose potential solutions to overcome them. The results show that to solve the issue of the limited LNG quantities available for export, Qatar can produce electricity from renewable sources and export the gas consumed for power production, and can produce renewable natural gas (RNG) from green hydrogen and captured carbon dioxide. Two BCM of natural gas can be exported if 15% of the electricity required is produced from renewables in Qatar. In addition, 0.45 BCM of RNG can be exported if Qatar uses its natural resources to produce 5000 MW of renewable power. Redirecting contracts coming to an end and increasing dependence on spot markets can resolve the issue of a long-term fixed contracting strategy. Finally, using floating import terminals may alleviate the problem of European LNG terminals running out of room to receive more gas.

Research on the Cooperation of Emergency Response Subjects for the Shortage of Urban Natural Gas Energy

This paper deals with the urgent problem of urban natural gas shortage. In order to improve emergency efficiency, enhance emergency efforts, and reduce urban disaster losses, the differential game theory is firstly applied for constructing a tripartite dynamic game model. Then, based on the Hamilton–Jacobi–Bellman (HJB) equation, the optimal effort degree, natural gas energy shortage, and maximum urban loss are obtained in three cases, i.e., spontaneous governance mode, superior dominant mode, and cooperative mode. The results show that the effort of provincial government, local government, and natural gas emergency enterprise is positively related to the emergency shadow, the impact of effort and natural gas energy attenuation coefficient of provincial government, local government, and enterprise, but it is negatively related to the emergency cost coefficient and the discount rate. From the perspective of emergency shortage and total urban loss, the government-enterprise cooperation mode turns out to be the best emergency mode, while the spontaneous governance mode remains the worst. At the same time, the government implements subsidies and incentives for nongovernmental organizations involved in emergency response, which is more conducive to the emergency of natural gas shortage in heavily suffering cities.

METHANATION TECHNOLOGIES FOR PRODUCING SYNTHETIC RENEWABLE METHANE

Methanation, or the generation of synthetic methane through the combination of carbon dioxide and hydrogen, has been attracting more and more attention of researchers and energy scientists in recent years due to the fact that the development of an effective and economically feasible technology for the implementation of this process will allow solving a number of energy and environmental problems. First, it is the accumulation of excess renewable electricity from solar and wind power plants by using it in the creation of another energy-intensive product, namely synthetic natural gas, which removes the problem of coordinating unstable sources of electricity with energy networks. Secondly, methanation becomes another technology for enriching biogas and turning it into biomethane, which will allow it to be used through existing gas networks and contribute to solving the problem of natural gas shortage.
 The development and improvement of methanation technologies are engaged in many organizations of the world - Germany, Denmark, France, the USA, Japan and others. Research is conducted in two main directions: catalytic methanation and biological methanation. In the first direction, methanation is carried out through the Sabatier reaction using catalysts. The problems of such methanation are: the development of catalysts with high activity, selectivity and resistance to the heat of reaction, the provision of optimal reaction modes, in particular temperature and pressure, through the use of various methods of reactor cooling, control of the reaction mechanism, the use of three-phase reactors, changing their structure, and so on. Biological methanation is carried out using of biological methanogens - so-called archaea, which act as a kind of catalyst. The methanation is carried out either directly in the biomass anaerobic digestion reactor (in-situ methanation) or in a separate reactor into which biogas and hydrogen are fed separately (ex-situ methanation). One of the main problems of in-situ methanation is the simultaneous provision of optimal conditions for both acetoclastic and hydrogenotrophic methanogens. This problem is solved by ex-situ methanation, in which the optimal conditions for anaerobic digestion and methanation processes are provided separately. It is clear that optimal conditions are also provided for biomethanation of pure CO2 and H2, when the «broth» for archaea is created separately. A comparison of catalytic and biological methanation technologies shows that catalytic methanation provides higher energy efficiency and requires much smaller reactor sizes than biological methanation for the same methane yield. However, the latter has a higher resistance to harmful impurities than the catalytic one.

Price responsiveness of commercial demand for natural gas in the US

To estimate price responsiveness of commercial demand for natural gas in the US, we use five parametric specifications to conduct panel data analysis of a newly developed sample of 17,280 monthly observations for the lower 48 states in 1991–2020. We find that the US commercial natural gas demand is price inelastic, with statistically significant (p-value ≤ 0.05) static own-price elasticity estimates of −0.137 to −0.245, short-run −0.152 to −0.261 and long-run −0.281 to −0.463. These estimates vary by choice of a sample period, choice of a parametric specification, treatment of cross-section dependence, assumption of partial adjustment, and exclusion of fixed effects. Further, they vary by season and region and their size has been slowly declining over time. Finally, commercial natural gas shortage cost declines with the size of own-price elasticity estimates. The policy implications of these findings are: (a) price-induced conservation's likely limited effect on the US commercial natural gas demand justifies continuation of energy efficiency standards and demand-side-management programs for deep decarbonization; and (b) demand response programs such as real time pricing and reliability differentiation efficiently allocate limited supply of natural gas during a shortage among heterogenous end-users, thus reducing an economy's aggregate natural gas shortage cost.

Price Responsiveness of Residential Demand for Natural Gas in the United States

While price responsiveness of residential demand for natural gas has important implications on resource planning and energy modelling, its estimates from prior studies are very diverse. Applying panel data analysis and five parametric specifications to monthly data for the lower 48 states in 1990–2019, we estimate own-price elasticities of residential demand for natural gas in the United States (US). Using results from cross-section dependence (CD) test, panel unit root tests, panel time-series estimators, and rolling-window analysis, we document: (1) the statistically significant (p-value ≤ 0.05) static own-price elasticity estimates are −0.271 to −0.486, short-run −0.238 to −0.555 and long-run −0.323 to −0.796; (2) these estimates vary by elasticity type, sample period, parametric specification, treatment of CD and assumption of partial adjustment; (3) erroneously ignoring the highly significant (p-value < 0.01) CD shrinks the size of these estimates that vary seasonally, regionally, and nonlinearly over time; and (4) residential natural gas shortage costs decline with the size of own-price elasticity estimates. These findings suggest that achieving deep decarbonization may require strategies that do not rely solely on prices, such as energy efficiency standards and demand-side-management programs. Demand response programs may prove useful for managing natural gas shortages.

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How price responsive is industrial demand for natural gas in the United States?

Our panel data analysis of the price responsiveness of industrial demand for natural gas in the United States utilizes five parametric specifications and 10,944 monthly observations for the lower 48 states in 2001–2019 to document statistically significant (p-value ≤ 0.05) static own-price elasticity estimates of −0.027 to −0.062, short-run −0.029 to −0.125, and long-run −0.060 to −0.179. These estimates with relatively small absolute values support the continuation of energy efficiency standards and demand-side-management programs for deep decarbonization. Further, diverse price responsiveness among heterogeneous industrial customers suggests using demand-response programs to efficiently allocate the limited supply available during a natural gas shortage.

Impact of natural gas pricing policy for energy security and macroeconomic resilience: A literature review from global perspective

Indonesia’s government has targeted 24% of natural gas in the national energy mix by 2050. However, one of the main problems in Indonesia’s natural gas development is the price mechanism. Unlike many countries, Indonesia’s natural gas market, including its pricing, is still heavily regulated and subsidized by the government. The low natural gas price has damaged the investment climate and slowed the natural gas development in the country. An overview of the global natural gas market evolution, as well as a comprehensive analysis of natural gas market transformation from China and Malaysia, were presented in this paper. The wider gap between supply and demand of natural gas and the increase of the LNG market in Asia have pushed China and Malaysia to reform their natural gas market into a liberalized system. This provides an insight to examine Indonesia’s natural gas pricing policies. The highly regulated market often fails to provide the actual cost of supply, leads to underinvestment, and causes a natural gas shortage in a country. Natural gas pricing policy transformation is mandatory to ensure supply stability and keep up with the global natural gas market dynamic. The transformation should be implemented gradually to give natural gas producers and end-users enough time to adjust to the regulations. In the end, gas-to-gas competition should be set as the long-term goal to allow retail competition in Indonesia’s natural gas market.

Technical and Economic Assessment of a High-Quality Syngas Production Process Integrating Oxygen Gasification and Water Electrolysis: The Chinese Case.

Natural gas shortage, waste treatment, and renewable energy utilization and storage are the common issues in China. This research aims to evaluate a simple and reliable biomass and power-to-syngas process for high-quality syngas production integrating oxygen gasification and water electrolysis. The technical and economic evaluations are successively performed based on the simulation data. The single-stage and two-stage gasifiers are integrated and compared. The results show that the process with a two-stage gasifier has advantages in both technical and cost performances over that with a single-stage gasifier. Then, the optimal values of the operating variables are determined by investigating their effects on syngas composition and yield and the overall energy and exergy efficiencies. Then, by setting appropriate amounts of water for electrolysis and methanation pressures, the process can generate two typical products: thermochemical synthetic biogas (TSB) or synthetic natural gas (SNG). The overall energy and exergy efficiencies of TSB can reach 74.1 and 69.5%, respectively, while those of SNG can achieve 64.8 and 64.1%, respectively. The unit product cost of TSB is about one third of that of SNG, indicating that TSB makes a profit while SNG results in loss. A sensitivity analysis of the cost indicates that the constraints for TSB are much looser than those for SNG to gain profit. Additionally, this study proposes two indicators to characterize the electricity-storage capacities of biomass and syngas. The indicators show that SNG has big advantages over TSB in the specific capacity of electricity storage, and the capacities of SNG and TSB are approximately 52.0 and 4.7 times of the specific energy density of the lithium-ion battery pack in 2019, respectively. The work could be used as a reference for the countries lacking natural gas and valuable to guide the development of a two-stage gasifier, reduction in equipment cost, and evaluation of electricity-storage performance using biofuels.

Direct synthesis of methane-rich gas from reed biomass pyrolysis volatiles over its biochar-supported Ni catalysts

Thermochemical conversion of biomass into methane is a promising way for bioenergy recovery and alleviate natural gas shortage; however, the available technologies are queried by the complex procedures. This paper proposed a new approach for the direct synthesis of methane-rich gases from reed pyrolysis volatile at atmospheric pressure, according to which the reed pyrolysis volatiles are catalyzed over reed biochar-supported Ni catalysts in two stages to be converted. Seawater and freshwater reeds were compared for preparing effective catalysts, and the influences of inorganic salts in reed biomass on the catalytic performance were explored. The reed biochar-supported Ni catalysts were also compared with γ-Al2O3-supported Ni catalyst (Ni/γ-Al2O3) to evaluate their activities. It has been found that freshwater reed biochar-supported Ni catalysts (Ni/FWBs) performed better than seawater reed biochar-supported catalysts (Ni/SWBs) and Ni/γ-Al2O3 owing to their large specific surface areas, uniform Ni particle dispersions, and appropriate Ni/biochar interactions. The Ni/FWB with biochar support produced at 600 °C (Ni/600FWB) was the best, and its corresponded tar-free gas product was characterized by a methane yield of 188.38 L/kg reed after two-stage catalytic conversion. The SWBs with higher alkali metal contents corresponded to larger Ni loading amounts than that of FWBs under the same conditions; however, they suffered from Ni particle aggregation and fusion, which deteriorated their catalytic activities. The findings indicated that the inexpensive Ni/FWBs were effective for the direct synthesis of methane from biomass pyrolysis volatiles, and the approach developed in this study provides an alternative to produce methane from biomass economically.

Prospect of China’s synthetic natural gas from coal gasification technology under consideration of economic, environmental, and security factors

Synthetic natural gas (SNG) from coal gasification technology has become an alternative method to alleviate China’s natural gas shortage. However, the Chinese SNG industry still faces a series of problems, such as low profits, high carbon emissions, and water shortages, and Chinese SNG policy is cautious and unstable. Considering economic, energy security, and environmental constraints, this study analyses the future of SNG in China by using a system dynamics model. The results are as follows. In under various circumstances, SNG production is projected to reach 20.8–44.2 bcm by 2030. SNG production could reduce the dependence on gas imports to 23–40% in 2030, which may help to reduce the risk of natural gas imports. The energy production efficiency index, EROI (Energy Return on Investment), of SNG is only approximately 1.5, and thus, economic profitability will remain very low for a long time; in general, price subsidies will be conducive to increasing SNG production. Based on these results, the study provides some suggestions for policy-makers.

Energy transition, public expressions, and local officials’ incentives: Social media evidence from the coal-to-gas transition in China

To mitigate air pollution from residential sources, a coal-to-gas transition was introduced by the Chinese government to promote cleaner energy in households. With unintended consequences brought out by the inappropriate implementation, the public’s complaints act as a barometer of public opinions. This study provides an empirical evaluation of the coal-to-gas transition policy using timely social media data. This paper also explores whether local officials have incentives to respond to public expressions. Fixed effects panel regressions are applied using 46,561 posts from Sina Weibo during 2015–2019, combined with data on official characteristics at prefectural-level cities. The content analysis suggests that the public’s complaints include poor policy design, natural gas shortage, official corruption, incorrect approach, increased cost, and safety concerns. The results indicate that the implementation of the coal-to-gas transition increased the complaints on Sina Weibo. Additionally, we find no measurable evidence that the implementation of the transition affects the promotion probabilities of local leaders. The results suggest that public complaints should be considered during policy implementation, and a reformed cadre evaluation system should include public satisfaction to improve social welfare.

Natural gas shortages during the “coal-to-gas” transition in China have caused a large redistribution of air pollution in winter 2017

The Chinese "coal-to-gas" and "coal-to-electricity" strategies aim at reducing dispersed coal consumption and related air pollution by promoting the use of clean and low-carbon fuels in northern China. Here, we show that on top of meteorological influences, the effective emission mitigation measures achieved an average decrease of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations of ∼14% in Beijing and surrounding areas (the "2+26" pilot cities) in winter 2017 compared to the same period of 2016, where the dispersed coal control measures contributed ∼60% of the total PM2.5 reductions. However, the localized air quality improvement was accompanied by a contemporaneous ∼15% upsurge of PM2.5 concentrations over large areas in southern China. We find that the pollution transfer that resulted from a shift in emissions was of a high likelihood caused by a natural gas shortage in the south due to the coal-to-gas transition in the north. The overall shortage of natural gas greatly jeopardized the air quality benefits of the coal-to-gas strategy in winter 2017 and reflects structural challenges and potential threats in China's clean-energy transition.

Chenab Limited: Company in Decline

Chenab Limited (Chenab) was a very large vertically integrated textile company in Pakistan whose operations included the entire textile chain from cotton spinning to textile weaving and finished products such as garments. The company had enjoyed considerable success in the years 2000–2007, but the economic conditions deteriorated from 2008 until 2013 for the textile industry. It was faced with electricity and natural gas shortage as well as inflationary conditions in Pakistan; these issues, together with stiff foreign competition, had seriously affected the financial health of the company.

PENENTUAN HARGA JUAL GAS BUMI MENGGUNAKAN INPUT OUTPUT ANALYSIS

Natural Gas shortage and low relative purchasing power causes the happening of competition of exploiting of earth gas by national industry. The Government must do optimization of allocation of earth gas for industry in country by giving the biggest efficacy nationally. Input-output analysis is framework developed by Wassily Leotief by the end of 1930s. This research gets Nobel Ekonomi is 1973. This method has been applied widely in so many area. Analysis input-output applied to know multiplier effect an input to sector or certain industry which will be applied as reference in determining contribution nationally. The result of natural gas exploiting optimization applies analysis input-output besides getting multiplier effect, also gets relative gas selling price between sectors.

The effect of natural gas shortages on the Mexican economy

The Mexican economy experienced a shortage of natural gas from the second quarter of 2012 through the second half of 2013. In order to deal with this problem, the state-owned national supplier of natural gas (Pemex) implemented a system that restricts the amount of natural gas used by the manufacturing sector. With this information, we have constructed a “shortage index” that represents the percentage of natural gas restricted per month in each region. We quantify the effect of natural gas shortages on the manufacturing sector and GDP using a panel data model with state and time fixed effects. We estimate that the natural gas shortage reduced Mexican GDP annual growth rate by 0.28 percentage points in the second quarter of 2013.

Using Concrete Wind Turbine Towers in Caribbean

ABSTRACTTrinidad and Tobago has been adversely impacted by an economic downturn resulting from depressed oil and gas prices. The country, once a net exporter of oil, must now import oil to provide fuel for its vehicles and industries. This contributes to the country's acute foreign exchange problem. The country is also experiencing a natural gas shortage causing curtailments for liquefied natural gas (LNG). A notable amount of natural gas is used for power generation. Moreover, the petroleum industry which includes multinational corporations, state-owned oil and gas companies plus foreign and local service companies, has reduced their total employment.One solution is to use renewable energy, particularly wind and solar power, to generate electricity. This has promising benefits as the country's gas reserves can instead be used for exportable petrochemical products to generate foreign exchange.An issue with developing wind power is the greater cost of steel towers and their shorter lifecycle. This article ...

Natural gas pricing reform in China: Getting closer to a market system?

Recent policy in China targets an increase in the contribution of natural gas to the nation's energy supply. Historically, China's natural gas prices have been highly regulated with a goal to protect consumers. The old pricing regime failed to provide enough incentives for natural gas suppliers, which often resulted in natural gas shortage. A new gas pricing reform was tested in Guangdong and Guangxi provinces in 2011, and introduced nationwide in 2013. The reform is aimed at creating a more market-based pricing mechanism. We show that a substantial progress toward a better predictability and transparency of prices has been made. The prices are now more connected with the international fuel oil and liquid petroleum gas prices. The government's approach for a temporary two-tier pricing when some volumes are still traded at old prices reduced a potential opposition during the new regime implementation. Some limitations of the natural gas pricing remain as it created biased incentives for producers and favors large natural gas suppliers. The pricing reform at its current stage falls short of establishing a complete market mechanism driven by an interaction of supply and demand of natural gas in China.

Urea Fertilizer for Bangladesh Challenges and Opportunity

The outlook for Urea Fertilizer at present and in coming years for Bangladesh-is a very much concerned issue and studied in the paper. The urea production vs. design capacity of all Fertilizer Plants and consumption has been shown. Main constraint for reduced urea production is identified as Natural gas shortage. To meet countries demand, the possibility of import from global urea supply and its impact on economy is also studied. Analyzing all the above; support to Urea Fertilizer factories- to ensure food security of the country - has been emphasized. Daily Natural Gas requirement for maintaining urea production is estimated. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jce.v26i1.10177 JCE 2011; 26(1): 22-26