Several years ago it acquired Teresen, a natural gas utility in British Columbia which has proved to be highly profitable.
Ballard is also developing a power unit with Tokyo Gas, a utility that supplies Japanese homes with natural gas.
It could be another natural-gas pipeline or an electric utility, in the U.S. or outside.
This Canadian utility company supplies natural gas and electricity to customers in Canada, the U.S. and the U.K. It reorganized several years back, but earnings continued to grow.
Still, the Exxon Mobil chief, who is regarded as one of the most frank and open oil executives, was hopeful that natural gas would be widely used by utility plants in the U.S. to create power for the coming revolution in electric cars.
FORBES: Natural Gas Equals Energy Independence And Economic Rejuvenation
That means the GSM Mobile World Congress, the telecommunications industry's largest annual trade show, will be abuzz with discussion of devices like "smart" meters that report a home's usage of electricity, natural gas or water back to the utility, and to your phone.
Moreover, the abundance of natural gas is fueling the growth of domestic production of all sorts of materials that use natural gas as a feedstock while lowering the utility bills of millions of Americans, exactly the opposite of what is promised by green energy.
FORBES: The Choice Of 2012: Obama Austerity vs. Romney Growth
Granted, the energy sector is highly diverse--utility companies, oil and natural gas businesses and ethanol producers are distant cousins at best.
Because coal power is cheaper than natural gas power, the switch will jack up your utility bills.
We expect that downstream companies, especially utility companies, will eventually shift toward natural gas.
By 2035, natural gas, generally, will make up about 45 percent of the utility generation market, says the Energy Information Administration.
"Early indications are that a contractor doing underground work struck a natural gas line, but the investigation continues, " according to the utility, Missouri Gas Energy.
PSEG, a diversified utility that sells electricity throughout the Northeast, mainly from natural gas, nuclear and coal plants, is no exception.
FORBES: Public Service Enterprise: A Little Darkness Before The Dawn
The utility says the nuclear plant will be immune to swings in natural gas prices and will not be affected by limits on carbon emissions if they are enacted in the years to come.
In Q4, gas prices rose by around 10% due to winter demand and rising demand from electric utility companies, which have been transitioning capacity away from coal towards natural gas.
Utility executives made commitments in the late 1990s to what was supposed to be cheap natural gas, only to see prices spike as supplies tightened, contributing to the California power crisis and sending some companies into bankruptcy.
WSJ: Daniel Yergin on the Shale Gas Revolution: Stepping on the Gas
The current low cost of natural gas in North America translates into the ability for microgrids to provide lower cost energy services than the incumbent utility grid.
If natural gas is to win by default and utilities are to get rid of all their coal and nuclear, future utility chiefs will have some sleepless nights, adds Tom Farrell, chief executive of Dominion Resources.
PowerBox Concept hybrid, for example, shown at the L.A. show, looks a lot like a standard sports utility vehicle (SUV) but combines a supercharged V-6 engine that runs on compressed natural gas and an electric motor that provides added power for acceleration and passing.
Three-quarters of the Birmingham, Ala. energy and utility company's operating income (earnings before interest, taxes and depreciation) comes from pulling natural gas out of the ground, specifically the 1.7 trillion cubic feet worth of proved deposits it has acquired in the last 11 years.
应用推荐