WSJ: IEA Says China Natural Gas Demand to Nearly Double

China's natural gas demand is forecast to nearly double by 2019, offsetting slower growth in Europe and elsewhere, the International Energy Agency said Tuesday in its annual medium-term gas market report.

Global gas demand is expected to rise by 2.2% a year by the end of 2019 compared with 2.4% projected in last year's outlook, the Paris-based energy watchdog said.

Liquefied natural gas will meet much of this demand, with new pipelines also playing a role. In a shift away from the traditional dominance of state-owned suppliers, private-sector operators in Australia, Canada and the U.S. are taking the lead in the expansion of LNG trade, which is expected to grow by 40% to reach 450 billion cubic meters by 2019.

Half of all new LNG exports will originate from Australia, while North America will account for around 8% of global LNG trade by 2019, the IEA said.
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