Global demand for liquefied natural gas is set to grow at twice the rate of gas demand, experts expect

Almaty. March 9. Silkroadnews – Global demand for liquefied natural gas (LNG) is set to grow at twice the rate of gas demand, the British-Dutch Shell states in their “LNG outlook”, KazTAG writes.

“The outlook for LNG demand is set to grow at twice the rate of gas demand, at 4 to 5% a year between 2015 and 2030”, the document says.

As noted, China and India will remain to serve as driving a rise in demand for LNG. In 2016 these two states were the fastest growing LNG buyers: their total imports of LNG for that year increased by 11.9 million tonnes. Thus, in 2016 China raised LNG import to 27 million tonnes, and India – to 20 million tonnes.

Behind the total global demand for LNG increase there is also the fact that 6 new importing countries entered the markets: Colombia, Egypt, Jamaica, Jordan, Pakistan and Poland, meaning the number of LNG importing countries has increased to 35, up from around 10 at the beginning of this century, Shell experts say.

Egypt, Jordan and Pakistan were reported among the fastest growing LNG importers in the world in 2016. Due to the local shortage of gas supplies, their total imports of LNG amounted to 13.9 million tonnes.

“LNG prices are expected to continue to be determined by multiple factors, including oil prices, global LNG supply and demand dynamics and the costs of new LNG facilities. In addition, the growth of LNG trade has evolved into helping meet demand when domestic gas markets face supply shortages”, the document says.

Shell experts believe, further investments will need to be made by the industry to meet growing demand, most of which, according to forecasts, is set to come from Asia after 2020.

The Chinese government has set the task to increase the share of gas in the country’s energy balance from 5% in 2015 to 15% by 2030. At the same time, according to forecasts, Southeast Asia is projected to become a net importer of LNG by 2035, a significant transformation for a region, which includes Malaysia and Indonesia that rank among the largest LNG exporters in the world, experts say.