Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 26
By Leman Zeynalova - Trend:
Global liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply is set to rise by 35 million tons in 2019, Trend reports with reference to forecasts of Royal Dutch Shell.
Shell believes that Europe and Asia are expected to absorb all this additional supply.
Strong demand for cleaner-burning fuel in Asia continued to drive rapid growth in liquefied natural gas (LNG) use in 2018, with global demand rising by 27 million tons to 319 million tons, according to Shell’s latest annual LNG Outlook. Shell expects demand to reach about 384 million tons in 2020.
“A rebound in new long-term LNG contracting in 2018 could revive investment in liquefaction projects. Based on current demand projections, Shell still expects supplies to tighten in the mid-2020s.”
Ongoing efforts to improve urban air quality saw China’s imports of LNG surge by 16 million tons in 2018, up by 40 percent from 2017, according to Shell’s estimates.
“On the supply side, Australian LNG exports caught up with those of long-time leading supplier Qatar towards the end of 2018 and are expected to rise by 10 million tons in 2019. Both countries are well-positioned to supply rapidly developing economies across Asia with gas they need to improve air quality by displacing coal-fired power and heating,” said the company.
LNG has played an important role in the global energy system over the last few decades, as an increasing number of countries have turned to natural gas to meet their growing energy needs. LNG trade increased from 100 million tons in 2000 to 319 million tons in 2018, says Shell.
“Encouragingly for the long-term health of the global LNG market, the average length of contracts signed more than doubled from around 6 years in 2017 to about 13 years in 2018. Meanwhile, the total contracted volume more than doubled to almost 600 million tons in 2018.”
Shell is an LNG pioneer with more than 50 years of expertise. It is expanding the use of LNG as a transport fuel for trucks and ships with potential economic and environmental benefits compared to diesel and fuel oil.
Shell believes that natural gas could form a bigger part of the transport energy mix as a lower-carbon fuel, alongside developments in vehicle efficiency, biofuels, hydrogen and electric mobility.
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