The Middle East constitutes 43 percent of world’s total proved gas reserves and with such vast resources available one would think that the region is self-sufficient in fulfilling it energy requirements. However, some countries in the Middle East still need to import piped gas or LNG.
Qatar and Iran are the major gas suppliers in the region. With huge existing proved gas reserves, Qatar is able to supply more than 30 percent of LNG to most gas-deficit regions in the world. However, new impending LNG supplies from the US and Australia, threaten Qatar’s position as the ‘king of LNG exports.’
Iran, on the other hand, has immense gas reserves, being the second largest holder of proved natural gas reserves. However, the country’s hydrocarbon development has been slow as a result of the international sanctions, which stem from Iran’s nuclear program. Therefore, lack of foreign investment and technology has paralyzed Iran’s natural gas production growth. This has, in turn interrupted with Iran’s ambition to build LNG infrastructure.
As seen in Figure 1, although Saudi Arabia is the fifth largest holder of proved natural gas reserves, almost all the associated gas is consumed to produce crude oil.
Figure 1: In 2014, the global LNG exported was around 32 BCF/D, out of which, 39 percent was supplied by Middle East
Meanwhile on the demand side, a huge gap is created between the domestic gas supply and demand. As shown in Figure 2, countries such as Kuwait and United Arab Emirates (UAE) have in progress to start importing huge volumes of LNG to meet the growing gas demand. The big question is why is there the need for importing LNG when inter-regional piped gas could be a more viable option for these countries? Going forward, new trends of LNG imports are shaping up in the Middle East.
Click here to read more.
Zoom Lebron XIV 14
iConnectHub
Access
Login/Register
Supplier Login
