RBAC Inc., Energy Market Simulation Systems

Tight Markets and Tight Gas: “When will we fully recover?”

Global natural gas markets are currently ‘tight’ and expected to remain so in the near term, even with rebounds in tight gas supply basins. The rapid return of gas demand domestically and globally has outpaced the supply recovery since the spring of 2020. As a result, North American gas prices have increased to levels not […]

Cyber Chaos: How significant would a prolonged attack be?

On May 7th, 2021, the Colonial refined product pipeline, which delivers approximately 45% of the gasoline and jet fuel consumed by the Southeast and eastern seaboard of the U.S., was hit with a cyber attack that shuttered operations for six days. Panic buying ensued and gasoline shortages quickly materialized – highlighting the critical importance of […]

The Dakota Access Pipeline Continues Operation for Now

What are the market impacts of a shut down? Energy Transfer’s Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) could still be shut down around March 2022 pending the results of the Army Corps of Engineers’ ongoing Environmental Impact Statement. The 570,000 barrel per day (bpd) pipeline transports crude oil 1,172 miles from the Bakken Formation in North Dakota […]

Dueling Models: Iterative Gas/Power Modeling for Realistic Spark Spread

As the industry transitioned away from coal to gas, it became clearer the importance of having a better understanding of the new integrated gas and power markets. One could no longer have a siloed view of the power and gas sectors. The increasing interdependency led to the need for an integrated gas and power market […]

Supreme Court of the United States Rules on Atlantic Coast Pipeline Case

On June 15, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court in a 7-2 ruling reversed and remanded the 4th Circuit Court decision in Atlantic Coast Pipeline LLC v. Cowpasture River Preservation Association holding that, “Because the Department of the Interior’s decision to assign responsibility over the Appalachian Trail to the National Park Service did not transform the […]

Can an Oil Price Boomerang Hit Waha?

Impacts of the Pandemic RBAC’s recent “Natural Gas Immunity to COVID-19?” article highlighted that the pandemic’s impact to energy consumption was more acute in the oil markets than in the natural gas markets because of the different end uses of the commodities. A large percentage of refined crude products are used as transportation fuels, which […]

Hindsight is 20/20: What Happened to the Northeast When Pipelines Couldn’t Be Built?

The New England natural gas market has been subjected to winter price spikes for over a decade, and this trend appears likely to persist. Throughout most of the year, there is adequate natural gas pipeline capacity to serve regional gas demand. However, pipeline capacity is insufficient to meet peak gas demand during the coldest winter […]

Will the “Rusty Patched Bumble Bee” Sting Dominion’s Atlantic Coast Pipeline?

Strange things can happen when natural gas pipeline companies move forward with final investment decisions (FID) and pipeline construction, even after they have received FERC approval. In the case of Dominion’s Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP), environmental concerns over the habitat of endangered species has stymied progress of the 600-mile project which will help evacuate Appalachian […]