China to drive future global gas demand
Rising natural gas consumption in China and India will underpin strong global gas demand in the near term, according to the latest report from UK bank HSBC.
China's demand for natural gas will surge to 260bn m³ by 2015, up from 110bn m³ at present, regional head of oil and gas research at HSBC Sonia Song said today.
In addition, China plans to build a third west-east pipeline, as well as construct 12 more LNG regasification terminals.
HSBC expects structural demand to remain strong globally, as Asia-Pacific needs more commodities to develop. But rising debt levels in the US will slow global growth in the short term.
This increased demand from Asia-Pacific is likely to be a key upward driver of global gas and electricity prices over the next few years.
