The Political Economy of Natural Gas

With greater reserves than crude oil and lower pollutant emissions that any other hydrocarbon, natural gas is posted to take the world by storm. Yet such a failure is littered with obstacles. Sources of natural gas are further and further removed from centres of consumption. Costs of extraction and transport are spiralling upwards. Iranian and Russian political leveraging of natural gas has raised fears of future supply disruptions. Differing regulatory regimes and pricing systems have prevented the development of a unified global market for fuel. This book focuses on the political economy of natural gas, constants on its future, consumption and the environmental consequences of its use. Chapter by chapter, readers learns about the properties of the fuel, the challenges of its transport, the different national regulatory and marketing regimes, the promises and perils of non-conventional natural gas and possible future new uses.