IGU: Global LNG imports rose 40% in 2018 vs. 2017

May 14, 2019
Continued growth in US Henry Hub-priced LNG exports and a general rise in spot LNG cargoes led to the highest year-to-year increase ever in total global LNG imports during 2018, the International Gas Union said as it released its 2019 Wholesale Gas Price Survey on May 13 in Barcelona.

Continued growth in US Henry Hub-priced LNG exports and a general rise in spot LNG cargoes led to the highest year-to-year increase ever in total global LNG imports during 2018, the International Gas Union (IGU) said as it released its 2019 Wholesale Gas Price Survey on May 13 in Barcelona.

Worldwide LNG imports in 2018 reached 416 billion cu m (bcm), or 11% of the 3,390 bcm of total worldwide gas consumption, it reported. The year-to-year growth was nearly 40% from 2017’s 92 bcm and 103.2% from 2016’s 62 bcm, IGU said. It was driven mainly by the continued rise in US Henry Hub exports and general growth in spot LNG imports, it noted.

Spot LNG cargoes were slightly more than a 30% share of global LNG import volumes in 2018, totaling 126 bcm, which was nearly 40% more than 2017’s 92 bcm and 80% above 2016’s 70 bcm, the survey said.

Gas-on-gas competition accounted for more than 50% of LNG imports into Europe in 2018 compared with 33% in 2017, while the gas-on-gas competition in the China and Indian subcontinent rose from 24% to 30.5% and for the Asia Pacific importers (mainly Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan) from 18% to 24%, it indicated.

Monthly US LNG exports peaked at nearly 126 bcf in January before retreating to almost 102.9 bcf in February, the most recent month listed at the US Energy Information Administration’s web site. Volumes looked strongest in the summertime since the beginning of 2014 but did not start to grow markedly until 2016 when they jumped from 26 MMcf in January to 2,019 MMcf in February and 43,553 MMcf in March, EIA’s figures show.

Contact Nick Snow at [email protected].