WEC: Shale Gas Could Have Major Impact on Asian LNG Market

WEC Shale Gas Could Have Major Impact on Asian LNG Market

The global LNG market is primarily driven by Asia, with LNG imports by Asian countries accounting for 60 percent of the global LNG trade. But the market is at a potential crossroads with the American shale gas revolution, a disparity in shale gas prices in North America, Europe and Asia, and whether China’s shale gas will be a game changer.

A panel of five participants from the US, Australia, Indonesia and Japan discussed these developments at the World Energy Congress in South Korea.

In the last couple of years there were some shifts on the demand side,” Tatiana Mitrova, head of the oil and gas department at the Energy Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences said in her opening statement.

First of all, the Fukushima catastrophe has pushed up energy demand in Japan, at the same time with environmental concerns and demand growth in China and Southeast Asia.”

The US potentially has a 100-year supply of natural gas, transforming the nation from a demand center to a supplier, said Executive Vice President at ConocoPhillips, Don Wallette.

As demand for LNG increases in Asia, North America is becoming another source for the Asian LNG market. Countries such as China, which has estimated shale reserves in the league of 1115 trillion cubic feet (tcf), are looking for ways to mimic that success.

Discussants talked put forward views over whether current events constitute a “revolution” or are simply a part of the market’s natural “evolution,” and whether industry actors would focus on short-term projects or long-term planning.

[mappress]
Source: WEC, October 14, 2013