The North American Energy Standards Board (NAESB) has unanimously approved an initiative to improve coordination between the natural gas and electric markets in response to Winter Storm Uri in February.

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The cold snap caused widespread power outages and shut-in oil and gas production across the south-central United States. Gas-fired generation accounted for 58% of all unplanned outages, according to a joint enquiry led by FERC and the North American Electric Reliability Corp., aka NERC, whose findings were made public in November.

The effects of Uri also reverberated beyond the United States, with gas buyers in Mexico impacted by price spikes and supply shortages during the cold snap. 

Vulnerability to a repeat event this winter “clearly is a top-of-mind issue for many...