Cedigaz, the International Association for Natural Gas, has confirmed that the global downward trend in gas demand continues with marketed natural gas production increasing by only 1.3% to 3445 billion m3 in 2014. The underperformance was explained by side factors, such as the increased competition from coal in Europe and Asia and the unusually warm weather conditions in the Northern hemisphere, which delayed the expansion of gas demand.
World natural gas production grew to 4319 billion m3 (1.7%), as strong increases were recorded in the volumes of reinjected gas, flared and vented gas, and other losses related to processing and field operations.
The international gas trade declined to 1007 billion m3 (3%), whereas after several years of market tightening, LNG supply grew to 312.8 billion m3 (0.8%), due to few liquefaction outages and new liquefaction plant start-ups in Papua New Guinea and Algeria. The Asian natural gas market saw a sharp slowdown in the growth of gas demand at 2.7%.
Global reserves remained almost stable (+0.3%) and the highest increases were recorded in Russia and the United States while European reserves decreased by almost 7%.
Edited from press release by Angharad Lock
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