2017 Rockies & West Agenda

A Look At Scientific Innovation Breathing Life Into The Global Energy Market

Natural gas pipeline deliverability that is properly contracted and nominated will be critical to ensure service reliability as renewable penetration increases.  In the West, natural gas has been and will continue to be the fuel used to meet the variable load-following demand requirements of electric generation.  As electric generation from renewable sources increases, hourly variability of natural gas demand will increase. “Renewable firming,” a product of developing the appropriate pipeline services and infrastructure such as market area gas storage, is required to meet intermittent demand created by renewable generation. 

The natural gas industry is in the midst of yet another evolution, moving from a supply driven market to one focused on demand growth. This panel will discuss various aspects that are driving the market and changing the market dynamics - Discussion topics will include:
* The Dark Horse rises: Denver-Julesburg
* Sustained commodity price environment behind recent producer confidence; Rigs on the rise
* Rockies producers making the best of a bad situation; efficiency gains enable production growth
* Climate Policy and State specific Renewable targets on natural gas demand in the power sector
* Competition from Western Canada for PNW market share
* Impact of Northeast-to-Midwest expansion projects
* Gas to Mexico and it's effect on supply to the region

Discussion will focus on repurposing, redirecting, and multi-purposing energy infrastructure in a world where there is little or no basis. The boom in U.S. shale plays launched a commercial evolution of repurposing that started with REX. As a result of the increase in demand for pipeline capacity, traditional pipelines have turned to reversals and conversion to fulfill market demand.

With major changes and constant motion within the Natural Gas Industry, what does the future hold? The Northeast region - Marcellus and Utica continue to supply the country with an influx of gas but what else and where else can we expect to meet the need for supply in the West? During this panel discussion, the panelists will address project updates on REX, the Cheyenne Connector Pipeline and REX Cheyenne Hub Enhancement, LDC market expansion, renewables affecting the Rockies and much more! The DJ Basin is HOT!! 

Please join our hosts, the Corporate Sponsors, at a cocktail reception in your honor. Don’t make your dinner plans too early as hors d’oeuvres and an open bar will be the highlight of this extremely well attended session!

The Energy Information Administration projects world energy demand to increase 28% between 2015 and 2040 with much of the increase being met by growth in natural gas production. This presentation will focus on the following topics:
•The geographic areas expected to the experience the greatest increase in future energy demand
•The main determinants of these increases
•How these increases will be met by shifts in fuel shares in light of the economic environment
•How natural gas markets are expected to contribute to increased production in liquid fuels
•Which countries are expected to further develop their own resources to help meet global natural gas demand

• The FERC initiated the Gas-Electric Harmonization topic in 2012. The goal was to prepare the gas business to meet the increasing demands on natural gas because of gas-fired generation. The industry, through NAESB, worked on this topic until April 2017. This presentation will cover the work that has been done to date, the changes that were accomplished, the changes the failed and, most importantly, what needs to happen next to move us forward toward a reliable future.