IEA: Russia to strengthen as largest gas exporter till end-2025

MOSCOW, Jun 10 (PRIME) -- Russia will strengthen its positions as the world’s largest gas exporter until the end of 2025, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in a report released on Wednesday.

Russia is expected to be the second largest source of rising supply on the market after the U.S. in the period to account for 20% of the global supply growth from 2019 through 2025. A 1.7% annual rise in production will be fully provided by Russia’s export projects to strengthen its position as the largest global gas exporter, the agency said.

Thanks to Russia, Eurasia’s gas production will grow around 1.8% annually until the end of 2025 to 1.03 trillion cubic meters, it added.

In 2020, the global gas market will see a record largest fall in demand of 4%, or by 150 billion cubic meters, in light of the coronavirus pandemic, but most of demand will recover in 2021, the IEA also said.

The 2020 economic crisis will slow down gas demand growth by an average of 75 billion cubic meters of gas annually until 2025, so the IEA has revised down its forecast for a rise in average annual demand for gas until 2025 to 1.5% from 1.8%. Global gas demand will reach 4.37 trillion cubic meters of gas in 2025.

The trade volume of global liquefied natural gas (LNG) will rise 21% from 2019 to 585 billion cubic meters in 2025, with China becoming the main importer in 2023 and the U.S. becoming the main exporter in 2025, the IEA said.

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