"DOE urges quick action on gas supply crunch

Worried about domestic gas supply shortages, U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham on Friday urged the National Petroleum Council to hold an emergency meeting next month to make recommendations on how to fix the problem before it becomes a full-blown crisis.

Abraham stressed that the near-term supply crunch, as well as "projected challenges next winter," requires a speedy government response. "In my view, we cannot wait until late fall to take action on the more immediate problems we face. Challenges require us to act today," he said.

Abraham last year asked the NPC -- the Department of Energy's key advisory panel on gas issues -- for a detailed report on supply, demand and technologies that could affect the U.S. gas outlook over the short and long term. NPC officials said Friday during the council's annual meeting in Washington, D.C., that the report would be delivered to Abraham in mid-September.

In the meantime, Abraham said an interim NPC session in June would allow DOE and other federal agencies to implement any preliminary recommendations provided by the council now rather than wait until late in the year. "It is my hope that such a meeting will . . . identify those actions that can be taken immediately to ease short-term supply constraints," he said.

Abraham called current gas storage levels "worrisome" and said he feared that a hot summer would limit the amount of gas injected and thus diminish supplies available next winter. Storage inventories are 42% below the five-year average and at their lowest levels for this time of year since DOE's Energy Information Administration began tracking them in 1976, he said."