TY  - JOUR
A1  - Neumann, Anne
A1  - von Hirschhausen, Christian
T1  - Natural Gas: An Overview of a Lower-Carbon Transformation Fuel
JF  - Review of environmental economics and policy
N2  - This article provides an overview of the natural gas industry, which we view as a bridge fuel toward a lower-carbon energy system in many countries and regions around the world. Based on a review of the literature, an econometric analysis of natural gas prices and contracts, and the authors' experience with the natural gas industry, this introductory article to the symposium on the Prospects for Natural Gas in a Lower-Carbon Context provides an overview of research on natural gas markets over the last decade and examines various features of the natural gas industry, including its technical structure, activities in the value-added chain, trade and market trends, short- and long-term price developments, and the geopolitical landscape. More specifically, we describe the natural gas sector and provide an overview of production, reserves, and consumption. We also examine the evolution of long-term contracts between producers and large-scale buyers of natural gas and present some recent empirical evidence. Finally, we discuss the changing geopolitics of natural gas, focusing in particular on the future roles of the United States as a potential natural gas exporter and Asia as the major importing region. (JEL: L11, L95, Q49).
KW  - L11
KW  - L95
KW  - Q49
KW  - natural gas
KW  - low-carbon economy
KW  - global markets
KW  - prices
KW  - contracts
Y1  - 2015
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1093/reep/reu022
SN  - 1750-6816
SN  - 1750-6824
VL  - 9
IS  - 1
SP  - 64
EP  - 84
PB  - Oxford Univ. Press
CY  - Oxford
ER  -