Journal of Energy Security

A team of researchers lead by mathematician Dr. Rui Carvalho at the Centre for Mathematical Sciences,  University of Cambridge,  have come up with a model that demonstrates how Europe can bolster its natural gas resiliency through cooperation and access to each others’ energy markets.  Natural gas pipelines, and moreover the networks they create, are expensive to build and even more so to operate if not utilized at or near capacity.  Therefore these researchers set about the task of calculating how in times of conflict or crisis European economies could weather a major disruption in gas supplies without adding new capacity.  The result was the publication this month of their research in a report entitled, “Resilience of natural gas networks during conflicts, crises and disruptions.”

On March 26th, European leaders asked US President Obama to help in licensing the export of US derived shale gas to the continent.  Such a request comes at a difficult time for all concerned.  Tough and potentially costly decisions will have to be made in terms of directing America's natural gas to its best end-use.  Gal Luft points out there has been an absence of significant discussion about how America's shale gas revolution can benefit one of the US economy's most important sectors-transportation.