IEA: Global gas demand to continue growing in 2025

Global gas demand reached a new historical maximum in 2024 and is expected to continue growing in 2025, primarily due to some rapidly growing markets in Asia, reads the latest IEA quarterly gas market report published today, Report informs.

Still, the global gas balance has remained fragile, highlighting the need for greater international cooperation to enhance gas supply security.

Driven by fast-growing markets in Asia, global gas demand rose by 2.8%, or 115 billion cubic meters (bcm), in 2024 – well above the 2% average growth rate between 2010 and 2020. First estimates indicate that natural gas met around 40% of the increase in global energy demand in 2024 – a greater share than any other fuel. This relatively strong growth was mainly due to the Asia Pacific region, which accounted for almost 45% of incremental gas demand in 2024 on the back of continued economic expansion.

Global natural gas markets are set to remain tight in 2025 as demand continues to rise and supply expands more slowly than before the pandemic and energy crisis.

Due to tighter market fundamentals, growth in global gas demand is forecast to slow to below 2% this year. As in 2024, the growth is set to be largely underpinned by markets in Asia, with the region expected to account for over half of the rise in global gas demand.

Though the halt of Russian piped gas transit via Ukraine on 1 January 2025 does not pose an imminent supply security risk for the European Union, it could increase European LNG import requirements and further tighten global market fundamentals in 2025, the report notes.

Gas market fundamentals have improved over the past year, but for now, we are still seeing significant tightness due to rising demand and muted growth in LNG capacity. Heightened geopolitical uncertainty adds to the risks,” said Keisuke Sadamori, the IEA’s Director of Energy Markets and Security. “While international cooperation on gas supply security has expanded since the recent energy crisis began, greater efforts are needed from responsible producers and consumers, who should strengthen their collective efforts to reinforce the architecture for safe and secure global gas supplies.”