Natural Gas Statistics - Page 6

The latest statistics of the International Gas Association CEDIGAZ show a continued slowdown in gas demand growth

Posted in Natural Gas Market, Natural Gas Statistics, Press release on

CEDIGAZ’ Natural Gas in the World 2016 report confirms the provisional estimates published early May, showing a moderate natural gas demand growth in 2015 for the third year in a row. Global gas consumption grew by 1.5%, still below the ten-year growth rate of +2.2% despite low gas prices. The global marketed natural gas production growth was again led by the United States (shale gas).

Like in 2014, the natural gas expansion was constrained by some demand side factors which have offset the impact of low gas prices: intense competition with cheaper coal (and oil in China) in both industrialized and emerging markets, the development of nuclear and renewables, as well as increased energy efficiency, weak power generation growth and the sluggish economic context.

2015: A Third Year of Moderate Growth in Gas Demand

Posted in Analysis, Natural Gas Market, Natural Gas Statistics, Press release on

Natural gas demand grew by 1.6% in 2015 according to Cedigaz after having stagnated in 2014. However, this apparent, if modest, resumption of global gas market growth can be misleading as the higher growth rate is essentially the result of a weather driven recovery in the EU where demand rebounded by 4.5% after having dropped by 11% in 2014. For the rest of the world gas demand growth was actually lower than in 2014 (1.2% vs. 2%) and was pulled by a limited number of countries led by the US. The inability of natural gas demand to keep pace with an accelerated supply growth, led to an imbalance in the global gas market and to a price weakness which is expected to continue in the short and medium-term, amid a sluggish economic environment.

The year 2015 saw considerable changes in macroeconomic and price factors. Economic growth stood at 3.1%, lower than at any time since 2012 (3.3/3.4%) and also lower than the 10‐year trend (3.8%). This was the result of the relatively modest growth of the emerging countries (4% compared with 6% over ten years), although western countries’ growth rate exceeded the 10‐year average (1.9% compared to 1.5%).  International crude oil prices fluctuated to new lows, with Brent averaging 52/bl, down by 47% from the previous year.

The Global LNG Trade in 2015 : Cedigaz’ First Estimates

Posted in LNG Markets, LNG Service, Natural Gas Statistics on

According to Cedigaz’ First Estimates, LNG imports grew by 2.1% in 2015 to 241.2 Mt. Main highlights include the reversal of growth trends in Asia and in Europe, the emerging role of the MENA countries as LNG importers and the growth of intraregional and intra-basin trade due to the convergence of global prices.

Change in growth trends in Asia and Europe

After many years of growing demand in Asia and declining demand in Europe, trends changed on the two largest LNG markets in 2015. For the first time since 2009, Asian LNG net imports declined by 2.8% to 172.8 Mt (-5Mt) mainly because of weather related factors, gas-fuel competiveness and the slowdown of economic growth. The bulk of the decline came from Japan and South Korea, the two biggest importers in the world: in these two countries, LNG net imports declined respectively to 85 Mt and 33.4 Mt which represents a combined decline of 7.2 Mt (-5.8 %). In a context of slowing economic growth and poor gas price competitiveness, Chinese demand dwindled by 0.9% to 19.7 Mt while LNG imports grew at an average annual rate of 20.1% from 2010 to 2014. Rising imports in Thailand (+ 1.3 Mt to 2.6 Mt) and Taiwan (+1.1 Mt to 14.6 Mt), as well as the beginning of imports in Pakistan (above 1 Mt) did not suffice to offset the regional decline.