General information

History

Natural gas is the most environmentally friendly and economic effective source of energy, does not have any color or smell.

People knew about the existence of natural gas long ago. According to the estimates, people used natural gas in China for heating and lighting already in the 4th century BC. They drilled wells and made pipelines of bamboo. Moreover, bright flame that did not leave ashes had been the subject of a mystical and religious cult for some peoples for a long time.

Natural gas has a number of advantages over the other types of fuel and raw materials:

Gas is a younger fuel than oil. The era of natural gas started with the discovery of Groningen deposit in 1959 in the Netherlands and the subsequent discovery of gas deposits in the southern basin of the North Sea by Great Britain in the mid-60s.

The forecast study on the development of world energy until 2030 says that natural gas will be the most growing type of fuel in the next 25 years. At the same time, the International Energy Agency experts believe that the share of gas in the global energy balance will increase from 21% to 25% by 2035, gas will be the second source of energy after oil, moving coal to third place.

The natural gas is produced in many countries, including the United States, Russia, Iran, Qatar, Indonesia, Canada, China, Norway, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, and Turkmenistan - these countries are the largest ones in terms of natural gas production according to OPEC.

Estimated physical characteristics (depending on composition):

Natural Gas is one of the most important raw material on the planet and key assets on the commodity market.

Natural gas global demand and supply

Natural gas demand demonstrated a fast growth last year - 4.6% and it is highest growth rate since the beginning of the decade, according to IEA. The experts suggest that the major demand will come from Asia generally from China fueled by the policy against air pollution.

Weather conditions remain the only one negative factor affecting demand. Over the past two months of this year, they have been extremely unfavorable for the natural gas consumption on the European market due to the record high winter temperatures.

According to the forecast of IEA in the coming five years gas demand driven by Asia Pacific region will account for almost 60% of the total consumption increase to 2024. China will be the main driver for gas demand growth, although its contribution will be lower than in the recent past because of the general economic slowdown in the region, but still accounting for about 40% of total gas demand increase to 2024.