Topic: The Global Natural Gas Pricing Crunch and Inflation

Speaker: David Edick, global political economist and Principal at Core Global Advisory
 
CPE Credit: 1.0 hours

Presentation:

Energy is central to our modern civilization. Energy propels human ideas and initiative into motion.

Natural gas is currently one of our primary sources of energy. The energy market share of gas has been growing strongly over the past decade. Its lower-carbon emissions and recent low cost has been pushing coal out of the power generating sector, especially in the USA. Electricity from natural gas is also crucial to balancing the intermittency of wind and solar renewable energy.

The cold winter of 2020-2021 was the deadliest US winter in almost 20 years, and economically, it was the costliest US winter ever.  It drew down natural gas storage inventories across the northern hemisphere to unusually low levels. Hot summer weather has increased worldwide gas demand in a number of markets - including Russia - and has hindered the rebuilding of storage inventories in advance of the coming winter. A series of accidents and outages has unexpectedly hampered production at a number of important fields and facilities. In the US, strong liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports and robust domestic demand has squeezed domestic supplies. All these factors are interacting to send natural gas prices soaring to record or near-record highs.

Higher gas and electricity prices are adding momentum to pandemic-era cost-push inflation. High gas prices are pulling relatively cheaper coal back into electricity generation in North America and Europe.

To what degree are these factors temporary? Will supply and demand turbulence continue?

David Edick will review the recent history and outlook for supplies and demand for natural gas and the implications for inflation and disposable income. 

David will also touch on the implications of high prices and market turbulence for the policy-driven global energy transition that is clearly underway.

Attendees at our meeting can expect to leave with significantly greater understanding of the following:
1) Soaring gas prices are taking electricity prices with them - especially in Europe.
2) If you want insight into Oil over the next couple of years, natural gas is showing what’s coming -- buckle up.
3) We will learn how fracking has affected North American gas supplies, and how worldwide pricing in turn affects fracking.
4) Natural gas markets were affected by the pandemic, and will continue to be affected by environmental, social and governance issues.
5) The global energy transition will be a tricky road filled with potholes -- keep that seat belt on!

Natural gas is a unique player in the worldwide energy picture, and is a key driver in national economies and, in particular, in where inflation is heading.  In this session, David Edick will provide us with both broad and deep insights into what's happening in that marketplace.

About our speaker: 

David Edick Jr. is Principal at Core Global Advisory, a consultancy focused on political risk, commodities, and market strategy. David has over 30 years' experience in trade, investment banking, and NGO relations in Russia. He has worked abroad in Russia in the food trade and investment banking, and in Mexico in the seafood export development business. 

David also serves as a member of the Energy Committee for the Western Regional Partnership, a collaborative between the Department of Defense and representatives of Federal agencies and State and Tribal leadership in 6 states of the US southwest. He also serves on the Natural Resources Committee and the Tribal Engagement Working Group. 

Drawing on his global perspective and experience, David has lectured widely for more than 15 years on energy, finance and geopolitics.

Long active in San Diego's international civil society community, David is 3-term Past President of the San Diego World Affairs Council. He is also 6-term Past President of the San Diego International Sister Cities Association, and 7-term Past President of the San Diego - Vladivostok (Russia) Sister City Society. In 2015 he served as Chair of the Steering Committee which led the establishment of San Diego’s 16th sister city relationship (Panama City, Panama).  David is a longtime participant in the international collaborative Pacific Rim Park program founded by James Hubbell. 

David graduated from San Diego State University in 1985 with a custom-designed, cross-disciplinary degree in Global Political Economy. David and his family live in Rancho San Diego, California.

Similar to David's presentation to us last year on Fracking and US Energy Independence, this will be a talk with active Q&A and lots of facts, analytical insights and new understanding of some complex issues. Join us tomorrow, when David will address the above issues and more in this highly engaging and energetic presentation.

To Attend:
Meetings are for members, prospective members and invited guests only. For non-members, RSVP is required by writing to chapter chair, Dan Ruchman at [email protected]. Please include a one or two sentence description of who you are, and your interest in attending the meeting. Thank you.

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CPE Credits: Reminder for those members maintaining their professional certifications - we offer the documentation for Continuing Professional Education (CPE) credits for our speaker presentations. For those members interested in this, you may complete the appropriate forms, which we'll have available at the meeting, for 1.0 hours of CPE credit

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