LNG supply and demand in 2011: strong growth as Qatar completes the expansion of its LNG plants

摘要

The volume of LNG traded in 2011 was 241.8mt, 3mt lower than LNG Business Review's forecast in the November edition, which was based on the data for the first three quarters of the year. Growth in the fourth quarter slowed to 3.4% compared with the same period of 2010, which made it the lowest quarterly increase in LNG activity since the second quarter of 2009 (see figure 1 below), before the first of Qatar's six 7.8mtpa mega-trains was commissioned. LNG supply in 2011 increased by 20.86mt (9.4%) compared with 2010 (see table 1 on page 20). The growth rate was above the long-run average, which has seen LNG supply increase by 7.7%/year since 1980, but was less than half the 21.9% recorded in 2010. LNG Business Review looks back at the global import and export trends in 2011.