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Turbulent times: Uncovering the origins of US natural gas price fluctuations since deregulation

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  • Wiggins, Seth
  • Etienne, Xiaoli L.

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate supply and demand shocks in the U.S. natural gas market, focusing on how the effects of these shocks have changed over time. Using a sign-identified structural vector autoregression (SVAR) model that allows for both time-varying parameters and stochastic volatility, we find that supply and demand shocks are the main drivers of natural gas price fluctuations during 1993–2015, with speculative activities playing a minor role during a portion of the sample period. We also find that after the recent shale boom, the supply and demand of natural gas in the US have become somewhat more elastic. An examination of several volatile episodes during the sample period suggest that though natural gas price fluctuations are predominately determined by fundamental factors, supply and demand shocks have significantly evolved over time.

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  • Wiggins, Seth & Etienne, Xiaoli L., 2017. "Turbulent times: Uncovering the origins of US natural gas price fluctuations since deregulation," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 196-205.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:eneeco:v:64:y:2017:i:c:p:196-205
    DOI: 10.1016/j.eneco.2017.03.015
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    8. Hailemariam, Abebe & Smyth, Russell, 2019. "What drives volatility in natural gas prices?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 731-742.
    9. Shen, Yiran & Sun, Xiaolei & Ji, Qiang & Zhang, Dayong, 2023. "Climate events matter in the global natural gas market," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    10. Rubaszek, Michał & Szafranek, Karol & Uddin, Gazi Salah, 2021. "The dynamics and elasticities on the U.S. natural gas market. A Bayesian Structural VAR analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    11. Szafranek, Karol & Papież, Monika & Rubaszek, Michał & Śmiech, Sławomir, 2023. "How immune is the connectedness of European natural gas markets to exceptional shocks?," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(PA).
    12. Núñez, Héctor M. & Trujillo-Barrera, Andres & Etienne, Xiaoli, 2022. "Declining integration in the US natural gas market," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
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    15. Adolfsen, Jakob Feveile & Ferrari Minesso, Massimo & Mork, Jente Esther & Van Robays, Ine, 2024. "Gas price shocks and euro area inflation," Working Paper Series 2905, European Central Bank.
    16. Theodosios Perifanis & Athanasios Dagoumas, 2018. "Price and Volatility Spillovers Between the US Crude Oil and Natural Gas Wholesale Markets," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-25, October.
    17. Gao, Shen & Hou, Chenghan & Nguyen, Bao H., 2020. "Forecasting natural gas prices using highly flexible time-varying parameter models," Working Papers 2020-01, University of Tasmania, Tasmanian School of Business and Economics.
    18. Michał Rubaszek & Karol Szafranek, 2022. "Have European natural gas prices decoupled from crude oil prices? Evidence from TVP-VAR analysis," KAE Working Papers 2022-078, Warsaw School of Economics, Collegium of Economic Analysis.
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    25. Pham, Son Duy & Nguyen, Thao Thac Thanh & Do, Hung Xuan, 2023. "Natural gas and the utility sector nexus in the U.S.: Quantile connectedness and portfolio implications," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Natural gas; Time-varying; Stochastic volatility; Supply disruptions; Demand shocks; Inventory; Price movements; Structural vector autoregressions;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E31 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Price Level; Inflation; Deflation
    • E37 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Forecasting and Simulation: Models and Applications
    • Q41 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Demand and Supply; Prices
    • Q43 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Energy and the Macroeconomy

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