What Is Working With AI in Energy? Chicago Natural Gas Panel Takes Up the Question at LDC Gas Forum Mid-Continent

SEO Agency USA Founder Jason Langella brings cross-sector AI lessons to the technology panel at the 38th Annual LDC Gas Forum Mid-Continent, Sept 15.

CHICAGO, IL, UNITED STATES, September 8, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- SEO Agency USA Founder and Chairman Jason Langella joins the technology panel at the 38th Annual LDC Gas Forum Mid-Continent in Chicago on Tuesday, September 15, bringing natural gas leaders a cross-sector answer to one question: what is working with AI, what is not, and how to leverage the opportunity. When more than 400 natural gas executives convene at the Westin River North from September 14 through 16, artificial intelligence will run through the rest of the agenda as a demand story: the data center load driving new gas-fired generation across the Midwest. According to the International Energy Agency, natural gas is the largest single source of electricity for U.S. data centers. One Tuesday afternoon panel turns the question around: what is the industry doing with AI inside its own operations?

The panel, Technology. Not A Threat. An Opportunity: Leveraging innovative technology solutions to seize opportunities and overcome challenges, runs Tuesday, September 15 from 1:45 to 3:15 PM Central Time. Cleve Hogarth, Principal of Cleveland Advisory, moderates a five-member panel that also includes Jay Bhatty, CEO of NatGasHub.com; Tom Quinn, General Manager of PowerGEM; Scott Vogan, SVP of Sales and Marketing at nGenue; and Dhruv Venkatraman of Trellis Energy Software.

The session is a working discussion, not a product showcase: practical methods for using technology to improve the bottom line, from automation to de-risking against security threats, and what AI deployment means for day-to-day workflow and the workforce.

Langella's vantage point is different. The other panelists lead software and technology companies serving the natural gas industry. SEO Agency USA works across power generation, natural gas, electric utilities, and renewables, building the AI agents and implementing the workflows the panel will describe, which gives the gas room a clear read on what worked and what failed next door. The discussion will also cover two opportunities that cost nothing to start: low-code and no-code agent platforms, and free AI education from Harvard, MIT, Google, Oracle, and Anthropic.

"In natural gas commercial operations the pattern is clear, and it is the same one the electric side has already lived through," said Jason Langella, Founder and Chairman of SEO Agency USA. "What works is the first draft, the first read, and the first alert. Intelligence briefs from market and regulatory sources, first-pass contract and RFP work, agents that monitor and route repeatable tasks. What fails is handing AI the decision. The opportunity is in between, and most organizations have not organized themselves to take it."

The challenges are rarely about the technology. "Every stalled deployment we see has the same causes. Data that is not ready, a pilot nobody owns, a strategy deck with no workflow behind it, or staff using a consumer chatbot because nobody gave them a sanctioned tool. Pick three workflows, name one owner each, write down what a person checks before anything moves, and deploy inside ninety days. The education is free and the tools are low-code or no-code. There is no budget excuse left."

The Forum opens with a keynote from James Pearson of ConocoPhillips on whether demand will catch production. A Mid-Continent market panel moderated by Rock Graham of NRG Energy brings together Enrique Gonzalez of Bloomberg, Leticia Gonzales of Natural Gas Intelligence, and Jack Weixel of East Daley Analytics. Tuesday's program features David Doyle of Macquarie Group; an infrastructure and coordination panel moderated by Danielle Bertoldi of Williams with Kenneth Yagelski of Southern Company Gas, Brian Fitzpatrick of PJM Interconnection, JEB Bolen of EQT, Paul Hughes of Southern Company Services, and Brianne Metzger-Doran of TC Energy; and a keynote lunch with Wendell Dallas, President and CEO of Nicor Gas. The all-women panel Beyond the Seat at the Table, moderated by Amy Mikhaila of Enbridge Gas Ontario, features Tammy Norman of Mansfield Power & Gas, Rose Jackson of Enbridge Gas, Marie LaPorte of Nicor Gas, and Aditi Krishnaswamy of Tallgrass. Wednesday's gas buyer panel includes Jay Baronowski of Advanced Power, Brian Rickers of Bunge North America, Adam Stiers of Enbridge Gas Ontario, and Steve Fiorella of Southern Company Gas.

Chicago is the fourth stop in SEO Agency USA's 2026 LDC Gas Forums sponsorship, after the technology and AI panels at the Southeast Forum in Ponte Vedra Beach in April, the Northeast Forum in Boston in June, and the Rockies & West Forum in San Diego in August. It continues through the Gulf Coast Energy Forum in New Orleans in October and the NatGas to Power Forum in Austin in November.

The full write-up and the five free courses are at https://seoagencyusa.com/blog/ai-in-energy-what-works-2026. Forum registration is open at https://www.ldcgasforums.com/mc/.

About SEO Agency USA

SEO Agency USA is a search intelligence and revenue infrastructure firm that engineers organic visibility, AI search positioning, and generative engine optimization for enterprise organizations, and builds and implements AI agents and workflows for their commercial teams. The firm operates dedicated divisions for technical SEO, content strategy, AI visibility, AI agents and workflow automation, paid media, web development, and analytics, serving clients across power generation, natural gas, electric utilities, renewables, engineering, construction, critical infrastructure, SaaS, healthcare, hospitality, and finance. SEO Agency USA is an official sponsor of the 2026 LDC Gas Forums and publishes original research on brand visibility across AI platforms.

About the LDC Gas Forum Mid-Continent

The 38th Annual LDC Gas Forum Mid-Continent convenes natural gas decision-makers across local distribution companies, pipeline operators, producers, marketers, utilities, end users, and regulators at the Westin River North in Chicago from September 14 through 16, 2026. The Mid-Continent Forum is one of six annual events in the LDC Gas Forums series produced by Access Intelligence, LLC.

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