China’s steady LNG demand growth will be a key driver of global LNG contract-signing growth, said Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) in its Global LNG Outlook 2018 report. Global demand growth for new LNG contracts is expected to grow from 13MMtpa* in 2022 to 297MMtpa by 2030, with China to become the second-largest potential market for signing term contracts by contributing 40MMtpa of uncontracted demand in 2030. Europe could be the largest LNG contract demand market with 94MMtpa of uncontracted demand.
Global LNG demand is expected to hit record highs this year, with demand in 2018 to rise to 305MMtpa and 490MMtpa by 2030. These will be driven by China’s new environmental policies, increasing power generation needs in South and Southeast Asia, and Europe’s drop in domestic gas production. However, global LNG demand growth is expected to slow to 7.2% in 2018, with further slowdown expected between 2019 to 2022.
With the global LNG market looking to be adequately supplied until 2025, final investment decisions will have to be completed before 2020 to create new capacity beyond 2025. To meet this timeline, contract signing activities will likely see a revival in 2020.
For more of BNEF’s global LNG predictions, please refer to the free public report here.
By: Bloomberg New Energy Finance
* MMtpa: Million Metric Tonne Per Annum