Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Natural gas-transportation and marketing policies

Thesis/Dissertation ·
OSTI ID:5934983

The natural-gas transportation and marketing system in the United States has developed in accordance with the regulation of gas production which prevailed through 1978. This regulation caused severe gas shortages which induced gas-transportation firms to discourage demand through non-price rationing of available supplies. In response to shortages, Congress enacted the Natural Gas Policy Act of 1978 (NGPA) and thereby provided for a gradual decontrol of gas producers' prices. An immediate effect of the NGPA, beginning in 1979, was an end of the shortages. However, the transportation and marketing policies developed in the period of shortages have not been fully reformed in response to the opportunities and problems created by the new supply situation. The thesis contributes to the improvement of gas transportation and marketing policies by developing both analytic and computational models by which the welfare effects of and interrelationships between pipelines investments, underground gas storage investments, and tariff policies (including both price and non-price rationing) may be estimated. The theoretical models developed include a public-utility storage model which is more general than the models previously appearing in the literature; a public-utility rationing model in which the motivation for non-price is distinctly different from those of previous theory; and a combined model of the storage and rationing of public-utility outputs.

OSTI ID:
5934983
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English