Natural Gas in Canadian-American Relations
| Author | E. J. Hanson |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070205701200304 |
| Published date | 01 September 1957 |
| Date | 01 September 1957 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
NATURAL
GAS
IN
CANADIAN-AMERICAN
RELATIONS
E.
J.
Hanson*
ATURAL
gas has
disturbed both
political
and
economic
equilibria
significantly
since
the
end
of
the
second world
war
in both
Canada and
the
United
States.
During
the
1950's
it
has
become
a
prominent
factor
in
the
relationships
between
the
United
States
and Canada,
has
been
the
object
of
ceaseless
lobbying and
political
debate
for
years
in
the
United
States
and
served
to precipitate
the
eruption
known
as
the
"pipe
line
debate"
in
the
Canadian
parliament
in
1956.
Although
the
manner
of
production
and
other characteristics'
of
this
commodity
cannot
fully
be
described
here,
it
must
be
remembered
that
the
processing
of
gas
usually
involves
the
production
of
several
products
in
fixed
proportions
which
are
geared
to
the
proportions
markets
will
absorb
only
under
the
most
auspicious
circumstances.
On
the
demand side,
natural
gas
for
space-heating
and
industrial
use
has
a
way
of displacing
other
fuels
once
consumers
become
familiar
with
it. It
requires
no
handling
of
any
kind; there
are
no smoke
or
ash
disposal
problems;
storage
is
not
needed
and consumers
need
not
pay
for the
gas
until
after
they
have
used
it;
the
rate
of
consump-
tion
can
be
regulated
automatically
to
secure
whatever tempera-
ture
is
desired.
Consequently,
the
consumption
of
natural
gas
has
risen
rapidly
wherever
it
has
been
introduced
at
competitive
*Head,
Department
of
Political
Economy,
University
of
Alberta,
and
author
of
a
forthcoming
book
on
the
development
of
the
petroleum
industry.
1.
Chemical
factors
make
the
producibility
of
natural
gas
a
complex
matter.
Natural
gas
consists
of
hydrocarbons
such
as
methane,
ethane,
propane
and butanes
and
of
non-hydrocarbons
such
as
carbon
dioxide, oxygen,
nitrogen,
helium
and hydrogen
sulphide.
The
proportions
of
these constituents
vary
from
field
to
field
and
special processes
are
required to
separate
them to
provide
gas
for
heating
or
raw
materials for
petrochemical
plants.
So-called
"dry" gas requires relatively
little
processing to
make
it
suitable
for
space-heating.
The
difficulty
with
"wet" gas
is
that
many
con-
stituents
are
wasted
if
only
one
or
two
can
be
marketed;
further-
more,
it
may
be
uneconomical
to
process
the
gas merely
to
sell
space-heating
constituents
or
to
manufacture
elemental
sulphur.
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