Mideast to become world's leading LNG supplier
Total chief says LNG to dominate gas trade in long term
By Nadim Kawach
Posted: 25 December 2006
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The Middle East is set to become the world's leading supplier of liquefied natural gas (LNG) given its massive gas resources and the depletion of gas fields in key consumer region s, according to the President of Total Gas and Power.
Yves-Louis Darricarrere said global natural gas demand would grow by around 2.5 per cent until 2020 but LNG would jump by nearly eight per cent.
Addressing Gastech in Abu Dhabi , he said the rapid growth in LNG would be because main gas producers are far from key markets and pipeline projects are costly.
" LNG is taking a larger share of the traded gas market, growing by eight per cent a year to represent 40 per cent of traded gas in 2020 and 15 per cent of consumption," he said.
" In this context, the Middle East which sits on one third of the world's natural gas reserves and is located halfway between the two major consumer regions—the United States and Asia—is one the way of becoming the world's leading source of LNG, with a unique position of arbitrating the markets.
" The Middle East is where we can observe how the gas industry is changing not only because of the strategic location of its gas resources, but also thanks to the favourable conditions for the implementation of a variety of new gas technologies."
Citing figures by the International Energy Agency, he said the capital required for the gas sector in the next 25 years is very high, estimated at $3.9 trillion, an average $156 billion a year. The bulk of such investments would be in exploration and production, projected at around $2.2 trillion while around $1.3 trillion would be pumped into pipe projects, $100 billion in storage and $300 billion for LNG.
" For all the necessary projects to be launched and meet success, major capital programmes will have to be carried out in both producer countries and consumer regions' But I would also like to mention the large number of smaller innovations that do not make it to the front pages, such as the systematic use of associated gas in all our new projects or the multi-flow transport of hydrocarbons, which together are very important to bring more gas resources to the markets in a sustainable way," he said.
" Let's not forget , particularly in a region blessed with massive reserves of gas that the industry's overall trend is clear: we will have to cost-effectively develop gas resources that are located farther and farther from the markets and that are smaller and smaller and more and more difficult to produce. It is clear that we will continue to need such innovations and events like today's gathering." |
