http://www.steelguru.com/middle_east_news/Global_gas_demand_to_grow_136pct_by_2016_-_IEA/210479.html

Global demand for natural gas will rise by 13.6% between 2010 and 2016 with the bulk of growth coming from rising power generation.

The International Energy Agency said that global gas demand in 2010 was an estimated 3,284 billion cubic meters and it expected it to rise to around 3,800 billion cubic meters by 2016.

IEA said that power generation remains the main driver behind gas demand growth use in this sector is estimated to have increased by 5 percent in 2010. Both gas turbines and renewables continue to dominate the investment picture for power generation across OECD.

The report said that 2010 saw the biggest ever increase in liquefied natural gas trading with a rise of 25% to 299 billion cubic meters and Qatar being the biggest supplier. Growth of LNG trade is set to continue over 2011 to 2016 as new plants come on stream, adviser to 28 industrialized countries on energy policy.

The coming 5 years will see continuing growth in LNG trade as another 80 billion cubic meters of liquefaction capacity is expected to come online by 2016. LNG supplies were expected to grow by one third over 2010 to 2016 but that much of new LNG supplies were already contracted, particularly to Japan and China.

The IEA said that in this context, Australia with five plants currently under construction or committed and a few others close to reaching FID seems set to become the new Qatar. Unconventional gas continued to transform the market. Not only have these resources doubled the estimated recoverable gas resources compared to recoverable conventional gas resources they are also more evenly distributed across regions.

(Sourced from Reuters)