Russian giant Gazprom noted a ‘considerable potential’ to become one of the global LNG leaders as its production capacity is being constantly developed.
During a board of directors meeting, the company noted that the number of LNG-consuming countries would continue to grow in the long-term as new buyers emerge in the Asia-Pacific region.
It is also expected that the traditional leading importer trio of Japan, South Korea and Taiwan will be shuffled to include China and countries from the southern and southeast Asia.
Gazprom pointed out that, amid favorable pricing environment in the Asian market as of 2018, U.S. LNG barely reached Europe, losing against Gazprom’s pipeline gas.
After the first ten months of the year, there was more than 100:1 disparity between Russian pipeline gas and U.S. LNG in terms of deliveries to European countries, according to the Russian company.
U.S. LNG exports are seen as ‘largely dependent’ on the shale gas production that still has a high level of uncertainty over long-term forecasts for US shale gas production, it said.
Among the major factors that will influence the future dynamics of production are the global prices for energy, the resource potential of shale deposits, and the opportunities for improving development technologies, Gazprom said.
In terms of Chinese shale gas productions, it was noted that it is showing positive momentum, its growth rates are substantially lower than planned. In Europe, according to recent estimates, domestic production of shale gas is unlikely to develop on a commercial basis, even in the long term.
For its own part, Gazprom finds the shale gas development is unfeasible in the mid- and long-term perspective, taking into account its large conventional gas reserves.