Azerbaijan, Baku, 19 March / Trend corr A. Badalova/ According to the forecasts of USA's third largest bank JP Morgan, world price for natural gas will average $8.78/mmBTU in 2008 and 2009, while previously it was forecasted as $7.65/mmBTU for 2009 and $7.50/mmBTU for 2008.
On 18 March, JP Morgan's central office told Trend that the forecasts for gas prices for the second quarter of 2008 ($8.50/mmBTU) increased mainly due to expected drop in export of liquefied natural gas to the United States. According to JP Morgan's forecasts, the average gas price in the third quarter of 2008 will amount to $8.97/mmBTU and in the forth to $8.95/mmBTU.
During the recent 15 years, the production of liquefied natural gas rose by average 6.6% per year. For instance, according to the Turkish state-run company Botas, by 2020 Turkey's import of liquefied natural gas from Nigeria and Algeria will exceed 25bln cu m.
The correspondent can be contacted at: [email protected]