A top executive with a Nebraska-based natural gas supplier says he’s still very concerned about the home heating season ahead. Speaking this week in Dubuque, Ken Graeber, senior vice president with Cornerstone Energy, was asked if there’s a natural gas crisis developing. Graeber says he’s -not- worried about people running out of natural gas, but he says supply is lagging demand by six to ten-percent, based on normal demand. Omaha-based Cornerstone supplies natural gas to utilities in Iowa, Nebraska and several other states. He says this winter’s weather will determine how much of a supply shortfall there truly is.If it’s a warmer-than-normal winter, prices should stay the same or perhaps even go down, but if it’s a colder-than-normal winter, he says “we could see a huge increase in natural gas prices.” Graeber says high prices bring in a lot of capital which companies can use to do more research, development and exploration of new natural gas wells.The parent Cornerstone Propane is the nation’s sixth largest retail propane marketer, serving more than 400-thousand customers in approximately 30 states.
