This year’s APGA Gas Supply Conference (GSC) kicked off virtually on Wednesday, April 28, with the opening overview provided by Josh McCall of BP Energy, followed by a hedging discussion led by Jack Weixel of IHS Markits and Donnie Sharp of Huntsville Utilities. Together, these presentations took a look at the gas supply markets over the past year, including the impacts of the severe winter weather in February that drove natural gas spot prices to historic highs, as well as a prospective look for what we may be able to expect in the short term. These sessions were rounded out by an in-depth discussion of hedging for public gas utilities, which prompted robust conversation amongst participants.
Day two of the conference transferred focus to the shifting federal policy impacting climate and energy more broadly, through a conversation with Lisa Jacobson of the Business Council for Sustainable Energy (BCSE). This was followed by a deeper dive into issues impacting natural gas supply via production and infrastructure, with a moderated roundtable featuring Robin Rorick of the American Petroleum Institute (API) and CJ Osman of the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America (INGAA). Between the two sessions, presenters opined on potential gas supply impacts from a range of drivers, from the U.S. rejoining the Paris Agreement to bans on federal land leasing to roadblocks the industry faces in expanding the natural gas pipeline system.
The second week of the conference began with a discussion of natural gas prepays and pricing indices. Tyler Noble and John Norman of Municipal Capital Markets Group (MCM) along with Jim Choukas-Bradley of McCarter & English returned to give their customary update on the state of natural gas prepays, which was followed by John Gregg, APGA’s General Counsel, and Mark Callahan of S&P Global Platts, who ended the day with a discussion of Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and methodology changes to pricing indices.
The conference wrapped up with a focus on alternative gases and security. Zac Littrell and Jude Mariea from Symmetry Energy discussed cost impacts public gas systems might expect from increased use of hydrogen (H2) and renewable natural gas (RNG), while Kristine Wiley of the Gas Technology Institute (GTI) focused on how these fuels may impact the integrity of the gas supply system. Deputy Assistant Secretary Kate Marks of the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER) division closed out the conference with an insightful discussion on how private-public partnerships can be leveraged to respond to gas supply-related security threats.
APGA would like to thanks all of the presenters, as well as everyone who participated in the conference. As a reminder for registered participants, recordings of GSC sessions will be made available online
here.
The 2022 GSC will be held in New Orleans from May 10 to 11.
For questions on this article, please contact Renée Lani of APGA staff by phone at 202-464-0836 or by email at
rlani@apga.org.