Natural gas demand set to soar

MELBOURNE - Asia-Pacific demand for liquefied natural gas (LNG) will reach 150 million tonnes by 2015, compared with 83 million tonnes last year, says the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics (Abare).

In addition to projected growth for which long-term supply contracts have not yet been signed, some significant contracts will expire in the next 10 years. Taking both factors into account, Abare says there could be up to 76 million tonnes of uncontracted LNG demand in the region in 2015.

LNG - gas which is supercooled into liquid form for transport by tanker - accounts for 6 per cent of the world's gas consumption but production is set to soar with US and Chinese demand.

Abare said Asia-Pacific LNG demand would come from the region's three established markets - Japan, South Korea and Taiwan - with strong growth from the emerging markets of China and India and the North American west coast.

"Australia is one of the largest potential suppliers of LNG to the Asia-Pacific region with several proposed projects over the coming decade that could more than quadruple Australian LNG export capacity from its present 11.7 million tonnes," said Abare's acting executive director Vivek Tulpule.

But Australia would face strong competition from Indonesia, Russia and the Middle East.

- REUTERS