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Message| (1,908)    I frequently read articles which talk about
the "energy problem" and go on to describe how we can reduce oil
imports by building windmills and how natural gas discoveries
mean that our energy problems are solved. In reality, there are
now two very separate energy markets and a misunderstanding of
their relationship can lead to disastrous investment
consequences.  To illustrate this, I am going to go back to the
1970s when I started working in the area. There was a rule of
thumb then that the ratio between the price of a barrel of oil
and a thousand cubic feet of natural gas should be roughly 10 to
1. Oil and natural gas were substitutes for many applications in
the energy industry(including the generation of electricity and
space heating) and, if prices diverged from the ratio
significantly, the less expensive fuel would be substituted for
the more expensive fuel and the prices would move back to the 10
to 1 ratio.  Over the