RasGas continues to evolve with changing trends in LNG

Despite some recent turbulence, the global business environment for liquefied natural gas (LNG) remains strong, and a continuous growth in demand is expected for years to come, said Khalid Sultan Al Kuwari, Chief Marketing & Shipping Officer of RasGas Company Limited at the CWC 16th World LNG Summit, Rome, Italy.    

Presenting his ‘Overview of the LNG Industry in the Year Past, the Present and the Future’ as a member of the Global Strategy Panel at the Summit, Al Kuwari said that a growth rate of approximately five per cent per year from 2015 to 2025 is anticipated, and during this period LNG demand is expected to outpace the overall growth in natural gas demand.    

He said that “as Asia’s LNG supply has increased

and  demand  has  eased,  the  traditional  Asia  premium  has 

been  challenged.  This,  combined  with  the  recent  drop  in  crude  prices  and  the  resurgence  of  nuclear  and  coal  for  power  generation,  has  changed  the  familiar  landscape  for  LNG  in  Asia,  and  brought  into  question  economics  for  some  new  and  some  planned  LNG  projects”.

However, new customers and new markets for LNG are also increasing at an ever faster pace.

“LNG  is  still  a  business  requiring  significant  capital  investments  in  production,  liquefaction,  and 

transportation.  As  such,  LNG  requires  reliable  participants,  like  RasGas  with  a  long  term  vision 

and  the  resilience  to  overcome  short  term  uncertainty… I am still very optimistic that RasGas and the gas industry as a whole will be able to proactively embrace change and to continue to evolve the business to meet the growing needs of our customers and to meet the objectives of our sponsors and shareholders,” said Al Kuwari.