Paris, Oct 10 (EFE).- Global natural gas demand has eased amid declining consumption in mature markets, especially Europe, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), which expects the sector to hit peak consumption by the end of this decade.
In its Gas 2023 Medium-Term Market Report published on Tuesday, the Paris-based agency said it expected a 25 percent increase in liquefied natural gas (LNG) production capacities, especially in the United States, between 2022 and 2026.
This, it added, would help to ease the shortage caused by the reduction or closure of pipeline flows from Russia to Europe since the last two years.
Global gas demand suffered a significant drop of 50 billion cubic meters last year and it is expected to further decline in 2023, but by a lesser volume.
The demand is expected to recover from next year, amounting to an average of 1.6 percent increase between 2022 and 2026. There was an average annual increase of 2.5 percent between 2017 and 2021.
Among the major reasons for the drop, especially in Europe where substitutes for Russian gas had to be sought, has been the acceleration of renewable energy and energy efficiency.
China, on the other hand, is expected to account for almost half of the global rise in demand, along with other countries in the Middle East and Africa with abundant gas resources. EFE
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