Skip to main content
  • Book
  • © 2017

Natural Gas: A Commercial Perspective

  • Examines the natural gas business throughout the entire value chain, focusing on economically relevant principles and market drivers
  • Provides hands-on commercial expertise on natural gas commodity, transportation capacity and storage capacity agreements, including a comprehensive description of flexibility
  • Presents general principles as well as the latest regulatory and market developments
  • Discusses trading principles and products, unbundling, fundamental changes in price structures, the basics and impact of LNG transportation and trading, and the internationalization of the natural gas market
  • Includes a wealth of real-world examples and case studies
  • Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check for access.

Table of contents (10 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xvi
  2. Prologue

    • Andrej Pustišek, Michael Karasz
    Pages 1-2
  3. Introduction

    • Andrej Pustišek, Michael Karasz
    Pages 3-9
  4. Market Data

    • Andrej Pustišek, Michael Karasz
    Pages 11-24
  5. Non-economic and Non-commercial Fundamentals

    • Andrej Pustišek, Michael Karasz
    Pages 25-58
  6. Economic and Commercial Fundamentals

    • Andrej Pustišek, Michael Karasz
    Pages 59-92
  7. Sales Along the Value Chain

    • Andrej Pustišek, Michael Karasz
    Pages 93-147
  8. Transportation

    • Andrej Pustišek, Michael Karasz
    Pages 149-177
  9. Storage

    • Andrej Pustišek, Michael Karasz
    Pages 179-198
  10. Portfolio Management

    • Andrej Pustišek, Michael Karasz
    Pages 199-205
  11. Epilogue

    • Andrej Pustišek, Michael Karasz
    Pages 207-208
  12. Back Matter

    Pages 209-243

About this book

This book discusses and explains the economics of each stage of the natural gas value chain, including the economic impact of restrictions, rules and decisions that are ostensibly technical in nature, as well as commercially relevant contractual stipulations. Each chapter features several real-world examples illustrating the essential points. 


Natural gas is broadly considered the (leading) conventional source of primary energy. Complementing renewable energies’ utilization and offering a highly flexible yet relatively clean fuel, the worldwide natural gas markets are expected to grow. Despite the fact that Europe – where a degree of stagnation in natural gas consumption is being observed and is expected to continue – is not following this trend, international natural gas markets are becoming increasingly interdependent. Therefore, any analysis and discussion of natural gas markets at each level has to have an international rather than national focus.


Authors and Affiliations

  • Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), University of Applied Sciences Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Stuttgart, Germany

    Andrej Pustišek

  • The Energy House GmbH, Leipzig, Germany

    Michael Karasz

About the authors

Andrej Pustišek teaches energy economics at the University of Applied Science, Stuttgart, Germany and at the University of Karlsruhe (KIT), Germany, owns a consulting companys providing services to international natural gas and energy companies, inter alia, in arbitration proceedings, and lectures international courses on natural gas. He studied Geophysics and Economy in Vienna, Cologne and Münster. He holds a Ph.D. in Geophysics and a Ph.D. in Economy. In 1990, he started in international natural gas purchasing of Wintershall, Kassel, Germany. As of 1993 he headed different departments of WINGAS, Kassel, Germany (a Gazprom and BASF joint venture). From 2002 to 2012, he worked for E.ON Ruhrgas, Essen, Germany; first as Senior Vice President International Natural Gas Sales and from 2008 as Senior Vice President Portfolio Management.




Michael Karasz is managing director of THE ENERGY HOUSE GmbH a company he founded in 2011. He holds master degrees in Geology and Business Administration from the University of Cologne, Germany. His long-lasting involvement in the natural gas business started in the early 90’s at WINGAS, Kassel, Germany (a Gazprom and BASF joint venture). As of 1998 he held different senior management positions (inter alia, natural gas purchasing and portfolio management) both, in Germany and Central & Eastern Europe with E.ON, EEX, RWE, and Bayerngas. In these positions he successfully negotiated and concluded complex long-term purchase, transportation, storage, and sales agreements. He has extensive expertise in preparing and successfully executing international arbitration proceedings.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Natural Gas: A Commercial Perspective

  • Authors: Andrej Pustišek, Michael Karasz

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-53249-3

  • Publisher: Springer Cham

  • eBook Packages: Energy, Energy (R0)

  • Copyright Information: Springer International Publishing AG 2017

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-53248-6Published: 29 March 2017

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-85103-7Published: 21 July 2018

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-53249-3Published: 21 March 2017

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XVI, 243

  • Number of Illustrations: 18 b/w illustrations, 55 illustrations in colour

  • Topics: Fossil Fuels (incl. Carbon Capture), Environmental Economics, Energy Policy, Economics and Management

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access