Natural gas is the ‘ideal solution’ to the climate change issue, according to Qatar’s minister of energy, Mohammad Bin Saleh Al-Sada.
Unlike other fossil fuels, the use of natural gas as fuel would be beneficial to the environment, Al-Saada said at a seminar in Bolivia.
The minister stated that global gas consumption would increase at the rate of about 2 percent per annum, to over 50 percent by volume in the next two decades, a statement from the Qatari ministry of energy reads.
It is becoming the fastest growing fossil fuel, and the centerpiece of the energy equation, he said.
Within the natural gas sector, LNG demand was expected to grow at more than double the rate of natural gas, growing from 260 to over 600 Mtpa over the next two decades.
Market share of LNG in international gas trade is expected to grow significantly from about one third in 2015 to nearly half by 2035, equaling that of the gas supply by pipeline. The market for LNG is expanding beyond the power sector to include long-haul road transport and marine sectors as well.
In the short term, over the next few years, the demand impetus for LNG will be supported by energy policies favoring gas, structural changes in power markets, and concerns over nuclear power generation. Driven by these factors, LNG is expected to have a strong growth, pushing the total LNG demand to about 314 Mtpa by 2020.
In the same period, LNG supply is set to rise and production capacity is expected to reach 400 Mtpa by 2020, as additional supplies enter the market.
Very few new LNG projects are expected to come in the earlier part of the next decade. As a result, the global LNG market will start to tighten, potentially facing a supply shortage from 2025 onwards.
This scenario led the Qatar to increase its LNG production from 77 to 100 million tons per annum, to be operational by 2024, Al Saada said.