Bloomberg: China, Mideast to Overtake Europe as Biggest Gas Users, IEA Says

China and the Middle East, spurred by lower prices and ample supply, will drive global natural gas demand growth in the next 25 years as consumption in Europe fails to recover to peak levels seen in 2010, according to the International Energy Agency.

Both regions will become larger consumers of gas than the European Union, the IEA said in its World Energy Outlook 2015 published Tuesday. Global demand for gas, a cleaner-burning fuel for power generation than coal, will rise almost 50 percent in the period to 2040, making it the fastest-growing fossil fuel.

“With gas prices already low in North America, and dragged lower elsewhere by ample supply and contractual linkages to oil prices, there is plenty of competitively priced gas seeking buyers in the early part of the Outlook,” the IEA said in the report.