Industry survey: Natural gas producers optimistic, safety still a top concern

According to this recent Black & Veatch’s second 2013 Strategic Directions in the North American Natural Gas Industry survey, about 95 percent of pollsters across all segments rated their general outlook of the industry’s growth to the year 2020 as “optimistic” to “very optimistic.” What is in fact remarkable in this survey, according to Peter Abt, Black & Veatch Managing Director, is that a significant part of midstream and downstream representatives shared the positive outlook.

Image Source: processingmagazine.com

There are three major sectors in the oil and gas industries: upstream, midstream, and downstream. Upstream players are those connected to the exploration and production side; the midstream sector is composed of the players involved in the transportation, storage, and wholesale marketing of the products; and finally, the downstream players are those who generally sell at retail.

Image Source: sciencedaily.com

More than 85 percent of respondents also expect growth on demands in power generation to “materially increase natural gas consumption by 2020.” They also see exports in the Europe and Asian regions to be at an upswing.

Still, a major concern across sectors is safety. Major categories rated under safety were: cybersecurity, aging infrastructure, and pipeline integrity and reliability.

Image Source: cbc.ca

Respondents believe that “improving technologies, from drilling applications to monitoring and data acquisition, are enabling the industry to better manage assets, reduce costs and be better positioned to meet evolving regulations.”

Dr. Ali Ghalambor is a well-respected figure in the oil and gas industry. He was a former director of the Society of Petroleum Engineers. More details about him can read in this Twitter page.