IGU reports good news for LNG and global gas
It’s all good news for the global liquefied natural gas industry, says the International Gas Union, which released its 2018 World LNG Report at the recent World Gas Conference in Washington, D.C.
Last year was another record-breaking year for LNG trade, according to the report, which is a key data reference on the global industry and a flagship publication of IGU.
In 2017, global LNG trade reached 293.1 million tons, an increase of 12 percent from 2016. Last year marked the third consecutive record-breaking year for the industry and the highest annual growth since 2010, the report showed.
The significant growth was attributed to increases in new LNG supply, driven largely by projects in Australia and the United States that are bringing new capacity online. Increasing demand in 2017 also contributed to strong growth in global trade, as LNG establishes itself as the fuel of choice in markets across the world.
In global demand, the Asia-Pacific region continued to be a core driver, with China adding 12.7 million tons of imports in the last year, the report stated. This represented the largest-ever annual growth by a single country and likely was the result of strong enforcement of coal-to-gas switching policies across China in an attempt to improve urban air quality.
Other countries driving global LNG growth include South Korea, Pakistan and Turkey, which added a combined total of 11.9 million tons in imports, IGU said.
“This year’s report is a testament to the importance of LNG as a core element in meeting the world’s energy needs, with international trade continuing to boom from both a supply and a demand perspective,” said IGU President David Carroll. “We remain bullish and continue our strong support of LNG as a core driver of a sustainable future.”
During WGC, IGU also released two other key reports—its 10th Wholesale Gas Price Survey and its Global Gas Report.
The Wholesale Gas Price Survey revealed that gas-on-gas competition has the largest share in the world gas market, with a 46 percent share—more than 1,700 billion cubic meters—of total world consumption of 3,740 bcm.
Meanwhile, the Global Gas Report found that 2017 was an impressive year for gas demand growth, supported by increased LNG market liquidity and the growing role that gas is playing in building a sustainable energy supply, the IGU said.
To continue growing, the report urged industry and policymakers to cooperate on ensuring the competitiveness, availability and sustainability of gas—and to give special attention to the role that gas can play in cities.