Gas supply key to global energy security: Report

Gas supply key to global energy security: Report

London (Platts)--18May2006

Fast-growing natural gas demand worldwide will present new challenges to
maintaining global energy and economic security, according to a report
released Wednesday by Cambridge Energy Research Associates and the World
Economic Forum.

Total global gas demand should reach 369.4 Bcf/d by 2020, up more than 40%
from 262.7 in 2003, the groups said. At the same time, liquefied natural gas
should claim 17% of the global gas market by 2020 ? up from only 7% in 2003.

Much of that demand can be traced to gas becoming "the fuel of choice for new
power generation" worldwide, the groups noted, with economic growth driving
the power demand.

"The push to be able to deliver natural gas by both pipelines and LNG tankers
adds to the complexity of energy security," according to the report.
"Increasingly, long-distance [gas] pipelines crisscross borders, linking
economies but also creating vulnerabilities for terrorist activities."

Moreover, "gas prices in North America, Europe and Asia will, to a degree
unanticipated just a few years ago, increasingly influence each other through
LNG," the report said.

The full version of this story was published in Platts Gas Daily. Request a
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