Natural Gas Distribution & Marketing Industry Profile

The US natural gas distribution industry includes about 450 companies with combined annual revenue of about $130 billion. Major companies include CenterPoint Energy, NiSource, and Sempra Energy, as well as natural gas distribution subsidiaries of companies such as Dominion Resources and ONEOK. The industry is highly concentrated: the 50 largest companies account for about 90 percent of revenue.

Global exports of natural gas total about 876 billion cubic feet compared to US exports of 30 billion cubic feet, according to BP's 2010 Statistical Review of World Energy. Russia, Norway, Canada, and Qatar are among the world's largest natural gas exporters. Major natural gas distributor companies are Gazprom (headquartered in Russia); Gassco (Norway); GasTerra (Netherlands); GDF SUEZ (France); and Sonatrach (Algeria).

The industry includes utilities and other companies that distribute and market natural gas, but not companies primarily engaged in pipeline transportation of natural gas to distribution systems. Natural gas producers are covered in the Oil & Gas Exploration & Production industry profile.

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

Demand for natural gas is driven by overall US economic activity. The profitability of natural gas distributors depends largely on the efficiency of their operations. Companies that operate multiple distribution networks may enjoy economies of scale in purchasing.

Imports of gas by pipeline from Canada supply about 15 percent of US consumption. Imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) by boat are fairly small; LNG only makes up about ...