Global gas demand drops in 2020

Ankara, Turkey - The world’s natural gas demand is estimated to fall year-on-year by 2.5 per cent in 2020 down to 3,840bn cubic meters (bcm), a statement from Rystad Energy said.

Natural gas demand did not decline as much as oil demand, as low prices made gas competitive in the power sector and shielded the share of gas demand from falling further.

While demand in Asia remained relatively strong, European consumption was more severely affected, dropping around 7 per cent year-on-year, or by around 40 bcm, followed by Africa with 26 bcm, the statement said.

Global natural gas production is expected to have dropped by 3.6 per cent last year, as low oil and gas prices led lower exploration and production with the total produced figure hitting around 3,918 bcm in 2020, Rystad Energy said.

The pandemic impacted North America the most as a gas-producing region with production estimated to have dropped by 47 bcm from 2019 to 1,103 bcm in 2020, the statement said.

Liquefaction capacity grew by 5 per cent in 2020, reaching 464mn tonnes per annum, as new plants, mainly in the US, started operations.

The estimated capacity in the US will reach 71mn tonnes per annum with a 42 per cent increase with the commissioning of trains at Cameron, Corpus Christi, Elba Island and Freeport, compared to the Russian liquefaction capacity that has reached 29mn tonnes per annum, the statement said.

“Despite lockdowns, global liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports grew 3 per cent to 363mn tonnes in 2020. China mainly led the increase in Asian LNG demand at 4 per cent year-on-year.

According to the Rystad Energy estimations, global natural gas production is expected to grow by 24 per cent to 4,857 bcm in 2040 with most additions coming from North America.