Global Natural Gas

Except in the US, Natural gas was considered as a "necessary evil" till the 1970s, which had to be necessarily (unwantedly) produced while producing Oil, and was largely flared

But since then, Natural gas has grown faster than the other members of the hydrocarbon family, has become a premium fuel, and now accounts for ~23% of world primary energy

It is interesting to note that Wood has Hydrogen to Carbon ratio: – H / C of 0.1, Coal’s H / C = 1, Oil's H / C ratio = 2 while that of Natural gas is H / C = 4. Thus amongst the hydrocarbons, Natural gas has the lowest carbon intensity

The Natural Gas Sector analysis almost always begins with comparison of the “Gas Chain” to the “Oil Chain”, as Natural Gas is often discovered and produced by the same industry in connection with oil or at least in a similar process, using the same tools. However, the similarity might just end at this juncture. From the wellhead stage onwards till the end user, the natural gas chain has a totally different structure from the oil chain

The Oil Chain is quite loose, the interruptions in the chain are relatively easy to compensate and hence the producer is not unduly affected by what happens downstream of the delivery point. By contrast, the Gas Chain almost always has physically fixed links right from wellhead to the wall socket, and the downstream bottlenecks or interruptions could be decisive concerns

Each of the links in the gas chain, starting from field development, followed by either pipeline transportation or the LNG liquefaction / transportation / re-gasification, and ending with the end use sector investments are highly capital intensive, with front-ended investments and back-ended revenues

While the Oil business is considered to be truly global in nature, gas markets have largely still been local, and at best regional. Transportation costs lie at the heart of this distinction. Oil transportation costs are very small in relation to the market price of oil – typically in the 3%-5% range, while for Natural gas, they can be as high as 20-30% of the total value chain

But all these gas market characteristics are fast changing. The US shale gas sector has had a decisive impact on global LNG / Gas markets. Due to this "shale gas revolution", US has become the largest exporter of LNG, from a position of a large LNG importer till early part of first decade of the current century, and has dramatically changed the global LNG market dynamics

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Explore Global Natural Gas Indicators

Reserves in BCM, Demand / Production / Exports / Imports in BCM per year

Proven Natural Gas Reserves BCM

Natural Gas Demand BCM per year

Natural Gas Production BCM per year

Natural Gas Exports BCM per year

Natural Gas Imports BCM per year

Reserves in TCF, Demand / Production / Exports / Imports in Bcfd

Proven Natural Gas Reserves TCF

Natural Gas Demand Bcfd

Natural Gas Production Bcfd