2011 Agenda
(As of May 17th. Check back for updates.)
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Tuesday, May 10, 2011

9:00am - 11:30am

Pre-Con: The Five Key Technicals Every Gas Buyer Should Watch
— earn 3 CPE credits for this seminar
Join natural gas technical trading expert, Cynthia Kase as she demonstrates how to use a few easy rules to dramatically lower your purchasing costs. (Details) (slides)

11:00 am

Golf at Ruffled Feathers Golf Club
— sponsored by Nodal Exchange/LCH.Clearnet
GasMart thanks Nodal Exchange/LCH.Clearnet for its support of this event. Compete against your nat gas industry colleagues in this scramble tournament and score prizes for yourself in the longest drive, longest putt, or closest to the pin competitions. Be sure to stick around for the 19th hole party in the clubhouse. (Details)
1:00pm - 4:30pm

Pre-Con: Natural Gas Liquids: Coming to a Pipe Near You
— earn 4 CPE credits for this seminar
Hosted by Bentek Energy, this half-day seminar will provide you with the basics on NGL including how the price of gas liquids can impact dry gas production. (Details)
Please Email Bentek Energy to request the slide presentation for this precon.
5:30pm

Chicago Cubs vs. St. Louis Cardinals
— sponsored by ICE, NGX and Bentek Energy
GasMart thanks the IntercontinentalExchange, NGX and Bentek Energy for their continued sponsorship of this popular event in 2011! Join a couple hundred of your fellow gas purchasers, suppliers and natural gas industry colleagues in a fully-stocked rooftop over-looking Wrigley Field as the Chicago Cubs square-off against the St. Louis Cardinals. (Details)

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

7:30am—8:30am

Breakfast in the "Market Network Center" — sponsored by Hess Energy Marketing
8:20am—8:30am

Welcome to GasMart: Ellen Beswick, Publisher and Founder, Intelligence Press, Inc.

8:30am—10:00am

A Sustainable Future for Natural Gas

Will natural gas be THE bridge fuel to a secure, clean energy future? Among the issues to be addressed:

(1) The extent of the basic resource
(2) The technology to produce it
(3) The cost of safe, efficient production and transportation
(4) Protecting the environment, especially water resources
(5) Dealing with the public face of natural gas
(6) Comparing the alternatives... Coal, Nuclear, Renewables
10:00am—10:20am

Coffee Break in the "Market Network Center"

10:20am—11:00am

A Sustainable Future for Natural Gas (continued)
Be on hand as panelists and audience convene for this important Open Forum and Q&A session. Questions to be addressed will include:

  • Beyond the vetted big shale plays, what other fields are out there?
  • This country consumes almost as many Btus in coal (20.7 quads) as it does in natural gas (24.7 quads); how much of the coal fleet can gas replace?
  • What part will gas play in fueling vehicles?
  • What further production gains will we see from improved technology?
  • How are decline rates holding up; what pace of drilling will we have to maintain?
  • Can the states effectively regulate and monitor environmental and safety aspects of drilling?
  • Can the industry reduce its water footprint?
11:00am—11:20am

Coffee Break in the "Market Network Center"

11:20am—noon

Natural Gas Forecast 2011 and 2012: Supply is a Given; Demand Will Set the Price
Jim Simpson, Vice President and General Manager, Bentek Energy (slides)

(1) Natural Gas Demand: Coal/Nuclear Switching, Back-up for Renewables and LNG Re-Exports
(2) Tweaks to an Already World-Class Pipeline Grid
(3) The North American Supply/Demand Forecast by Region
(4) WSPD (What Should Prices Do)? Price Predictions Through 2012
Noon—1:15pm

Lunch in the "Market Network Center"

1:15pm—2:30pm

Market Management for Utilities and End-Users

There are number tools for managing your supply needs in this marketplace. Be on hand as these experts outline what the industry is doing to make gas procurement a breeze. Among the issues to be addressed:

(1) How do manufacturers maintain supply/price stability?
(2) Prices are low, but what about volatility?
(3) Balancing Reliability and Cost
(4) The adequacy of storage as a market stabilizer
(5) To hedge or not to hedge... Is that a question?
2:30pm—3:00pm

Coffee Break in the "Market Network Center"

3:00pm—4:30pm

Dodd Frank Reform and what it could mean for Natural Gas Purchasers

The landmark Dodd Frank Wall Street Reform Bill was passed into law last summer and while much is still uncertain, we are starting to know more about the nature, scope and timing of the final rules to be rolled out by Commodity Futures Trading Commission. This panel will read the tea leaves and provide us with an early look at how the implementation of these rules may impact the physical and financial, regulated and OTC natural gas marketplace. Among the questions to be addressed by this panel:

(1) What are the potential costs and burdens to natural gas purchasers? In terms of reporting, deal capturing, margining?
(2) Could the rules crimp energy market liquidity?
(3) Position Limits: Too much? Not enough?
(4) How will the End-User exemption be defined and are you sure you will qualify?
(5) What impact will the rules have on suppliers? Will there be fewer OTC parties with whom to transact?
(6) What might the the impact on the price, volume and volatility of natural gas futures/forward prices?
4:30pm—5:30pm

"Market Network Center" Reception
Don't miss this opportunity to meet with colleagues and customers as the industry comes together for food, drink, and some local entertainment to cap off the day's events. This gala takes place in the "Market Network Center" on Wednesday.

Thursday, May 12, 2011

8:00am—9:00am

Breakfast in the Market Network Center— sponsored by Platts

9:00am—9:40am

Keynote Address:
State of the Market: Challenges and Opportunities in 2011
Charlie Schrock, Chairman, President and CEO, Integrys Energy Group (slides)

(1) The Shale Revolution and a Bright Future for Natural Gas: Now What?
(2) Lower Natural Gas Prices: A Buying Opportunity Right Now or a Permanent Paradigm Shift?
(3) Balancing Reliability and Cost to Meet Industrial and Commercial Customer Needs
(4) Dodd Frank Reform and the Changing Landscape of Suppliers
9:40am—10:10am

Coffee Break in the "Market Network Center"
10:10am—11:30am Gas Purchasers Speak Out

We don't think it's fair to let the energy suppliers do all the talking. Be on hand as the industry's customers talk back, discussing how they approach this market, their requirements from suppliers, problems they have encountered and how demand characteristics differ across various end-user industries.

Panelists who have participated in this popular session in the past have touched on their industry, company, location(s), what gas pipeline system(s)/interconnects they are supplied by, their usage profile, including whether they are firm or interruptible customers, need for peaking supplies, their use of storage and when, and volume of MMBtu requirements.
11:30am

GasMart concludes and "Market Network Center" closes
Noon—1:30pm Gas Purchasers Luncheon & Meeting
— hosted by the Process Gas Consumers Group and Ballard Spahr LLP Qualified purchasers of natural gas are invited to this luncheon meeting (email your host to RSVP by May 1)

Alex Strawn, Dena Wiggins

  • Alex Strawn, Chairman of the PGC and Purchasing Group Manager, North American Energy, Procter & Gamble
  • Dena Wiggins, Partner, Ballard Spahr and General Counsel to the PGC

Introduction and Welcome
An Update on Natural Gas Act Section 5 Reform

(1) FERC is in the midst of conducting two new Section 5 cases involving alleged pipeline overrecovery of costs. What is the status of these cases and are there likely to be others; A status report...
(2) Changing Gas Flow Patterns: With the expanding production of shale gas in what previously had been unlikely areas, there are new twists and turns in the path of gas from wellhead to plant gate. This can mean higher or lower transportation costs. For instance, a plant in Pennsylvania may find it's now supplied by a very short haul. On the other hand, individual transportation costs can go up if a long line can no longer spread costs over large volumes.
  • Greg Means, Co-Founder and Principal, Alpine Group

The Outlook for Energy Legislation in the 112th Congress

(1) Without Climate Change Legislation, What's Next?
(2) Prospects for a Clean Energy Standard
(3) Looking at Drilling and Fracking in the U.S. through lenses clouded by Japan, Libya and gasoline prices
(4) The Obama administration and natural gas
(5) The Outlook for the 2012 Elections and the Impact of the Elections on Industrial End Users
Qualified Gas Purchasers are invited to attend. Email your host to RSVP by May 1.

For more information call: 800–427–5747, e-mail: info@gasmart.com, or visit: http://gasmart.com/

Copyright © 2011 Intelligence Press, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

2011 sponsors
BP CenterPoint Energy Integrys Energy Services Hess Energy Marketing ICE Nodal Exchange Ballard Spahr CME Group Bentek Energy Planalytics NGX Process Gas Consumers The Oxford Princeton Programme rextag DTN. SMARTER DECISIONS. thomsonreuters Trumarx Data Partners Allegro Development Platts LIM, a Morningstar Company GlobalView
Media Partners
American Metal Market Commodities Now Scudder Publishing Group, LLC Energy Solutions Inc. Argus Media American Gas Association Public Utilities Fortnightly ICIS Heren
hosted by
NGI