Natural gas demand set to rise 67% by 2030

Demand for natural gas is forecast to rise by 67 percent by 2030, according to a speaker at an industry conference taking place in Bahrain this week.

"Natural gas provides 23 percent of all energy consumed in the world and the demand is growing," Banagas general manager Dr Shaikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Khalifa said at the opening session of the Nitrogen and Syngas International Conference, according to the Bahraini newspaper Gulf Daily News.

"Gas consumption is projected to rise in most regions over the next three decades, driven chiefly by demand from power generators, according to International Energy Authority (IEA). World primary gas consumption is projected to increase in all regions over the period 2007 to 2030, with the exception of the US, where demand declines fractionally.

"Globally, gas consumption increases by an average of 2.5 percent per year from 2007 to 2030, less rapidly than the three percent of the past three decades,” he added.

Shaikh Al Khalifa also said that demand for gas-to-liquids (GTL) is projected to increase from four billion cubic metres (bcm) in 2000 to 29 bcm in 2010 and 70 bcm by 2030.

"Proven gas reserves at the end of 2008 are estimated at more than 180 trillion cubic metres (tcm) globally, more than enough to meet the demand to 2030 and well beyond," he is also quoted as saying. Over half of the world’s gas reserves are currently located in Russia, Iran and Qatar.