TABLE OF CONTENTS

The natural gas industry worldwide is facing fundamental change as a result of government reforms to regulatory systems aimed at increased efficiency through the establishment of competition in the supply of gas. This restructuring, involving the sweeping away of many of the monopolistic features of the industry, is having a profound impact on the way gas is bought and sold and the underlying economics of gas price determination. This report, the result of an in-depth IEA study, aims to provide industry players and policy makers alike with a better understanding of that process and of the critical success factors in establishing an efficient, competitive market. It complements other recent IEA reports on natural gas, including the IEA Natural Gas Distribution Study, published in 1998, and the IEA Natural Gas Security Study, published in 1995. This analysis draws heavily on the experience of pioneering gas sector reforms in North America, where the process first began in the 1970s, and in Great Britain, where reforms launched in the 1980s have arguably gone furthest. Despite significant differences between these markets, there appear to be a number o