Development of Competitive Natural Gas Markets in the United States

The United States has the world's largest natural gas market. Fifteen years of deregulation have delivered significant gains to consumers in the form of lower prices and more services. The experience shows that liberalizing wholesale gas prices and the bulk supply of natural gas frees market forces in segments where competition is feasible. But regulators must focus on improving the regulation of pipeline transportation and minimizing its distortive effect on competitive gas markets. Introducing flexibility into pricing and other conditions of transportaion contracts such as delivery locations or the balancing of gas shipments and standardizing pipeline operations promote more efficient use of pipelines and benefit all industry participants. The U.S. experience also shows the important role of gas marketers and spot markets in increasing the efficiency of gas transactions and prices. Deregulation of the U.S. gas industry is far from complete, however. The most important task, and the biggest challenge for regulators, remains the deregulation of retail gas markets in individual states.

Bibliographic Details

Main Author:	Juris, Andrej
Format:	Viewpoint biblioteca
Language:	English
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 1998-04
Subjects:	DEREGULATION, NATURAL GAS INDUSTRY, NATURAL GAS PRICES, NATURAL GAS TRANSPORTATION, COMPETITION (ECONOMIC), PIPELINE TRANSPORT, RETAIL PRICES, NATURAL GAS PIPELINES, SPOT MARKET DISTRIBUTION COMPANIES, DISTRIBUTION UTILITIES, GAS, GAS ACT, GAS AND ELECTRICITY, GAS COMPANIES, GAS CONSUMERS, GAS CONTRACTS, GAS INDUSTRY, GAS MARKET, GAS MARKETING, GAS MARKETS, GAS PIPELINES, GAS POLICY, GAS PRICES, GAS PRODUCERS, GAS PRODUCTION, GAS PURCHASES, GAS REGULATORS, GAS SALES, GAS SUPPLY, GAS TRADING, GAS TRANSACTIONS, GAS TRANSPORTATION, IMPORTS, NATURAL GAS, NATURAL GAS MARKETS, NATURAL GAS SALES, PIPELINE, PIPELINE TRANSPORTATION, PIPELINES, PRICE RISK, REGIONAL MARKETS, SPOT MARKET, SPOT MARKETS, WASHING,
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/1998/04/693642/development-competitive-natural-gas-markets-united-states http://hdl.handle.net/10986/11557
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