After a strong recovery in global gas demand in 2021, growth will be weaker this year. This is partly due to the high gas prices. In Europe, demand will even fall. The International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts this on Monday.
For Europe, the IEA expects demand to be 4 percent lower than in 2021. This is mainly because gas will be used less to produce electricity. On the one hand, the sector makes more frequent use of renewable energy. On the other hand, the high gas prices make coal-fired power stations (which are very polluting) more financially interesting as an alternative.
Global natural gas consumption increased by 4.6 percent last year, “more than double the decline recorded in 2020,” according to the IEA. This resulted from the economic recovery after the corona year 2020 and cold winter. However, supply could not keep up with demand, and technical problems at some producers led to tensions in the market, resulting in high prices.
The IEA expects the shortages to disappear gradually. But high prices will still weigh on demand, and economic growth will also be more limited than in 2021. As a result, the IEA expects global demand for natural gas to increase by 0.9 percent this year.
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