Trade
In 1970, Global LNG trade was of 3 billion cubic metres. In 2011, it was 331bcm.
In 2004, LNG accounted for 7% of the world’s natural gas demand. The global trade in LNG, which has increased at a rate of 7.4 percent per year over the decade from 1995 to 2005, is expected to continue to grow substantially during the coming years. The projected growth in LNG in the base case is expected to increase at 6.7 percent per year from 2005 to 2020.
Until the mid-1990s, LNG demand was heavily concentrated in Northeast Asia — Japan, Korea and Taiwan. At the same time, Pacific Basin supplies dominated world LNG trade. The world-wide interest in using natural gas-fired combined cycle generating units for electric power generation, coupled with the inability of North American and North Sea natural gas supplies to meet the growing demand, substantially broadened the regional markets for LNG. It also brought new Atlantic Basin and Middle East suppliers into the trade.
By the end of 2007 there were 15 LNG exporting countries and 17 LNG importing countries. The three biggest LNG exporters in 2007 were Qatar (28 MT), Malaysia (22 MT) and Indonesia (20 MT) and the three biggest LNG importers in 2007 were Japan (65 MT), South Korea (34 MT) and Spain (24 MT). LNG trade volumes increased from 140 MT in 2005 to 158 MT in 2006, 165 MT in 2007, 172 MT in 2008 and it is forecasted to be increased to about 200 MT in 2009 and about 300 MT in 2012. During next several years there would be significant increase in volume of LNG Trade and only within next three years; about 82 MTPA of new LNG supply will come to the market. For example just in 2009, about 59 MTPA of new LNG supply from 6 new plants comes to the market, including:
- Northwest Shelf Train 5: 4.4 MTPA
- Sakhalin II: 9.6 MTPA
- Yemen LNG: 6.7 MTPA
- Tangguh: 7.6 MTPA
- Qatargas: 15.6 MTPA
- Rasgas Qatar: 15.6 MTPA
In 2006, Qatar became the world's biggest exporter of LNG, As at 2012, 25% of the world's LNG exports are from Qatar.
Read more about this topic: Liquefied Natural Gas
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