Global LNG trade reaches record volumes

Global trade in liquefied natural gas (LNG) reached record levels in 2020, Report informs referring to NGV.

However, this growth has been limited by the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, according to the report of the International Gas Union (IGU).

LNG trade volume rose 0.4 percent YoY (+1.4 million tons) last year, driven mainly by higher supplies from the US and Australia. This is significantly less than in 2019 when the indicator increased by 11.5 percent (+40.9 million tons) compared to the previous year, and yet LNG was one of the few energy carriers that showed an increase last year.

Australia bypassed Qatar as the largest exporter of LNG, while the US and Russia took the third and fourth positions, respectively. At the same time, about 70 percent of total world imports came from Asia (particularly China, India, Taiwan, and South Korea).

“While COVID-19 posed significant constraints to these markets, they benefited from low prices in 2020 and acquired additional volumes and, in some cases, expanded capacity for repeated gas supply,” the IGU report said.

Stable imports of LNG to Asia maintain high spot prices for the resource.