Will this country’s abundant, home-grown natural gas shale resources reach their full potential as a bridge fuel to a clean, green energy future or will market forces and onerous government restrictions combine to ratchet down their explosive development? Industry leaders at the 24th annual GasMart will be discussing how companies now are moderating their spending on natural gas development while emphasizing oil and liquids-rich properties, just as the economy and industrial markets are coming back to life.

What will that do to the natural gas market going forward? Be at GasMart 2010, Monday through Wednesday, May 10-12, in Chicago to hear the views of sponsors and speakers, including Herb Vogel, new CEO of BP Energy, North America Gas and Power, the largest gas wholesaler in North America, and Will Hussey, vice president Origination for ConocoPhillips, No. 3 among natural gas marketers ranked by Natural Gas Intelligence (NGI) newsletter.

And what about the flood of foreign liquefied natural gas (LNG), long predicted for U.S. markets? The receiving terminals are built and Guy Braden, senior vice president with the North American arm of GDF Suez, the top natural gas trading company in Europe, will be talking about the global market. Other experts on the program will address various aspects of natural gas supply, demand, delivery and politics before an expected audience of 500 producers, marketers and customers.

At GasMart 2009, as shale gas supplies were going over the top, ConocoPhillips’ Hussey, who has led off the GasMart program for the last three years, issued a warning that could be relevant today. “Don’t take for granted that because you’ve got an overhang of gas now that you’re going to have all the supplies you want next winter; it’s price sensitive.” GasMart regulars will be listening next month for Hussey’s latest market assessment.

With excess natural gas pushing down prices and with new restrictions, taxes and fees increasing costs, will gas production live up to all of its hype? It’s not an easy call. Escalating oil prices are stretching the oil-to-gas ratio to 15- or 20-to-1, and producers have been narrowing gas drilling to the easiest targets, in oil or liquids-rich fields and properties where leases are expiring.

Get the latest information and advice in the GasMart conference presentations and then meet your colleagues in the adjacent Market Network Center to hear their slant on what’s happening in the industry. (Is this a time for buyers to be putting in hedges?) There also will be networking when the conference begins on Monday, leading off with a golf match and followed by the Chicago Cubs baseball game that evening.

GasMart 2010 sponsors and speakers include executives from Nexen Marketing, Integrys Energy Services, Process Gas Consumers, CenterPoint Energy, GDF Suez, Hess, U.S. Energy Services, Alcoa Inc., Anadarko, Bentek Energy, IntercontinentalExchange, CME Group, NGX, NASDAQ OMX, Ballard Spahr, ICF International, Edison Electric Institute, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, NGVAmerica and Planalytics.

The GasMart conference and Market Network Center will be in the headquarters hotel, the Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers. Visit gasmart.com for more information and to register.

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