Business Trends

LNG growth is expected to be even stronger than overall

gas growth moving forward, although the expansion will be
tempered by maturing markets, price sensitivity from buyers
and the removal of price subsidies in non-OECD markets.
FIG. 3 shows projected global LNG capacity and demand between 2015 and 2025. The global LNG export market has been
dominated by Qatar, Australia, Algeria, Malaysia and Indonesia over the past 15 years. In the next decade, however, North
America and East Africa are expected to become prominent
LNG exporters, due to the huge gas reserves being discovered
and produced in US shale plays and offshore East Africa. More
than $700 B could be invested in LNG facilities worldwide
through 2035, with more than half of this amount allocated to
700

Capacity, metric MMtpy

600
500

Demand
Speculative
Possible
Under construction
Existing

400
300
200
100
0
2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025

FIG. 3. Projected global LNG capacity and demand, 20152025.

North American facilities. However, analysts expect that only

a fraction of the LNG export projects around the world will be
built due to high capital expenditures, the threat of price volatility, and a possible glut of LNG capacity past 2020.
The response of the LNG market to sporadic bouts of LNG
supply and the introduction of import markets will be a key
factor in the direction of global LNG supply and demand over
the next few years.
The usage of floating LNG (FLNG) and floating regasification and storage unit vessels will become more prominent
over the next decade. These vessels enable the swift development of stranded gas reserves at sea that would be too expensive to pump to onshore liquefaction plants. FLNG is being
touted by its proponents as a flexible, alternative solution to
onshore LNG projects, which usually require extensive permitting processes and excess capital investment for the landbased units. According to GDF Suez, FLNG could open as
many as 800 stranded gas fields to development, representing
more than 1.5 Tcf of gas.
Petrochemicals. The global petrochemical wave is not
over, but the crash in energy markets has shifted the outlook
from bullish to cautiously optimistic. Many new construction
projects remain in the works, especially within ethylene for
shale-derived ethane cracking in the US. While some delays
have been reported, project economics remain sound for the
foreseeable future. After all, lower oil and gas prices mean that

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