The Development of European Gas Markets: Environmental, Economic and Political Perspectives

This volume studies the driving forces behind the development of the European gas market and the uncertainties facing the industry in Europe. There is widespread consensus within Europe about the advantages of natural gas to reduce air pollution and to enhance energy supply diversification. Thus taking into account these most fundamental prerequisites for increased gas demand, this volume addresses the more immediate question of how the conglomeration and organisation of European gas industries will be influenced by this latent demand potential. The purpose of this book is to focus both on the analysis of evolutionary organisational processes within the gas industry, and the pressures for change provoked by external forces such as interfuel competition, environmental imperatives and new trends in European economic policies. The potential for structural change in the organisation of the European gas industry is discussed, as well as the political, economic and commercial factors affecting its progress. With the present uncertainty as to whether the gas industry will take advantage of the obvious market opportunities that are opening up, this book takes a close look at the European gas industry at this time of change, and analyses how this process may develop and the possible implications this will have on the gas industry.