Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec.27
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
The largest increases in liquefied natural gas (LNG) trading volumes will take place until 2020 - the period known as the ‘LNG Boom’, the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) said in its Global Gas Outlook.
“The largest contributors to this increase are Australia and the US. The outlook for LNG export growth is very promising, with an average annual growth rate of 2.8 percent. The volume of LNG trade will increase by around 240 million tons per annum (MTPA) (324 bcm), reaching 498.5 MTPA in 2040,” said the report.
In the medium-term, it can be seen that LNG trade soars to 356 MTPA by 2020— approximately 100 MTPA more than seen in 2016, when trade totaled 258 MTPA, GECF analysts believe. Most of this boom will come from additional capacity in Australia and the US, according to the report.
GECF forecasts the US to experience a gain of 8 percent of total LNG exports through to 2020 and 11 percent through to 2022, compared with 2 percent in 2016.
“The share of LNG in total natural gas trade will increase. In the medium-term, LNG’s share will soar from the current value of 37 percent to around 45 percent. With the commissioning of new pipelines, the share of LNG will then remain fairly constant until 2030, remaining around 45 percent,” said the report.
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