Research

While the Gas Research Institute maintains the most likelyfuture for natural gas includes low prices and a 31 Tcf market by2015, it is hedging its bets with a new study examining the outcomeif not all the expected pieces fall into place.

ARCADIS Geraghty & Miller, an environmental and engineeringservices consulting firm, and the Gas Research Institute (GRI) haveformed an alliance to commercialize natural gas co-firing andrelated technologies that significantly enhance steam boilerperformance.

The Gas Research Institute re-elected Robert Catell, CEO ofKeyspan, as chairman of the Institute’s board of directors. Hejoined the board in 1992. It will be Catell’s second one-year termas chairman. Stanley Horton, CEO of Enron Gas Pipeline Group, wasrenamed vice chairman.

Terry Keane, former vice president of Smith International,Houston, has been named vice president and general manager of theGas Research Institute’s Exploration and Production Business Unitin Chicago.

Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA) released findingsyesterday that North American gas production capacity will weakenthis year – possibly by as much as 500 MMcf/d – due to cutbacks indrilling and exploration brought about by low oil prices.

The Department of Energy (DOE) proposed a $10 million cut infunding for natural gas research and development (R&ampD) as partof a $17.8 billion budget for fiscal year 2000 that it forwarded toCongress last week.

The Department of Energy (DOE) proposed a $10 million cut infunding for natural gas research and development (R&D) as partof a $17.8 billion budget for fiscal year 2000 that it forwarded toCongress earlier this week.

The Gas Research Institute released its 1999 Data Book, whichcontains the analytical output from the recently released 1999Edition of the GRI Baseline Projection of U.S. Energy Supply andDemand to 2015. The Baseline Projection, released in August,describes a highly competitive, low-price energy future, withnatural gas expanding its share of the nation’s total energy marketfrom 24 percent in 1997 to 28 percent in 2015.

A newly released Gas Research Institute study examining theshift in perceptions of the U.S. gas resource base, titled”Changing Perceptions Of Remaining U.S. Conventional GasResources,” discusses how the move — from the shortage mentalityof the 1970s to today’s view that gas is abundantly available –has resulted from an interplay of factors. Factors discussedinclude increased exploration success rates in frontier plays,improved gas well recoveries and continued reserve appreciationactivity in existing fields. GRI, with Energy and EnvironmentalAnalysis Inc. of Arlington, VA, developed the study.