Bloomberg: Natural Gas Growth to Slow as European Demand Falters, IEA Says

Natural gas demand for power generation will slow in the next five years as European consumption falters and Africa and the Middle East struggle to boost production, according to the International Energy Agency.

Global consumption of the fuel will rise by 2.4 percent a year until 2018, down from last year’s forecast for 2.7 percent annual growth, the Paris-based agency said in its medium-term gas market report published today.

Europe’s gas use fell 1.6 percent last year amid the region’s second recession since 2008 and a 16 percent drop in carbon prices that encouraged power production from coal instead of cleaner-burning gas. Exporters from Egypt to Indonesia have started importing the fuel as domestic production fails to keep pace with local demand growth.

“European demand and Middle Eastern production are indicative of the obstacles that gas has to overcome as it expands its role in the global energy system,” Maria van der Hoeven, executive director of the IEA, said in the report.  MORE