ABSTRACT
The natural gas industry as a significant element in the West European economy, dates from the discovery of the very large Groningen gas field in the Netherlands in 1959 and the first off-shore gas fields in the British sector of the North Sea in the mid-1960's. Control over and/or regulation of the industry were intensifield after 1970 and have led to the under-development of Western Europe's gas resources in conditions in which two sets of factors would otherwise have ensured a much greater role for indigenous natural gas in the continent's energy economy, viz. first, the adverse changes for Europe since 1973 in the supply and price conditions of its oil imports; and second, the close proximity of production and potential production of gas in Western Europe to the centres of energy demand, so minimizing the relatively high transport costs of moving gas to markets.
