Pipeline safety and cybersecurity will top the list of priorities for the American Gas Association in 2013, Ron Jibson, the incoming AGA chairman, said Friday.
The US group will have a new emphasis on cybersecurity, said Jibson, the president and CEO of Salt Lake City, Utah-based Questar, at a press briefing. "It is not a matter of if, but when. We know already that people have been successful in getting into systems."
Improving cybersecurity will include educating industry on the threats and recommending best practices, he said. "We can't ever sit back and say we have accomplished what we need to on cybersecurity."
More specifically, industry has brought in experts from the Department of Homeland Security to find weaknesses in pipeline systems and recommend tools to address vulnerabilities, he said.
"These are cyber ninjas," Jibson said. "They scare the heck out of me in terms of what they can do."
Pipeline safety and integrity is also a top priority, and one that keeps him up at night, Jibson said. There are about 2.4 million miles of pipelines in the industry, which invests $2 billion in year to replace the highest priority pipelines.
The gas industry also aims to help with the economic recovery, by creating jobs, keeping gas prices low and offering gas as an option to fuel vehicles, he said.
Regarding the environment, improvements in extraction technology have reduced land impacts, and increased gas use is helping air quality, he argued.
On Capitol Hill, AGA is hopeful that next year the Senate energy committee will look at some broad energy proposals that deal with issues from production and distribution to the potential role of liquefied natural gas exports, said Dave McCurdy, the president of the group.
On the issue of LNG, Jibson said he expects some projects will move forward. "I believe there will likely be export of natural gas but I think it will be ... very slow and controlled," he said.
