Into 2022, the global underlying demand for LNG is expected to rise 3% to 396 million tons as robust consumption in China’s industrial and residential sectors, alongside other high-growth markets, counteract declining gas generation mix in mature buying regions, such as Japan. Loaded volumes are expected to rise to 402.3 million tons, driven by new production capacity and repairs to existing plants.
Reliability issues and a cyclical decline in capacity additions have constrained the ability of LNG producers to respond to a demand rebound driven by robust recovery from the coronavirus pandemic and the need to refill Europe’s depleted gas stocks after a protracted winter.
