Global Natural Gas Market and Changing Trends of Natural Gas Trade

Abstract

As a relatively clean and low-carbon primary energy source, natural gas will play an important role in the energy transition in the next decade in the context of peak carbon emissions and carbon neutrality. Since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the tension of global natural gas supply has intensified, the growth rate of demand has slowed down, natural gas prices have hit record highs, and the transportation market of liquefied natural gas (LNG) has fluctuated violently. At the same time, the flow of natural gas trade has changed. Under the sanctions of Europe and America, Russian natural gas exports have declined, American LNG exports have grown strongly, Europe is committed to seeking multi-source import sources, and China's LNG import growth rate has slowed down significantly. In the medium and long term, with the continuous development of new energy sources, the growth rate of natural gas demand slows down, and the global natural gas demand will peak around 2035. In the next five years, a large number of global LNG projects will be put into production, which will promote a significant increase in production, but the global natural gas production will fall back after 2032.