Tuesday, June 05, 2012 -
China is set to at least double its demand for gas in the next five years, a report released by the International Energy Association (IEA) on Tuesday said.
The East Asian powerhouse will be the third largest importer of gas, behind Europe and Asia Oceania, the IEA said in its Medium-Term Gas Market Report 2012, released as part of the World Gas Conference 2012.
The IEA predicts that China will increase its demand by 2.7 percent each year until 2017.
Turkmenistan stands to benefit immensely from this growing demand for Chinese gas.
On Monday, China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) said that total Turkmen gas exports to China since 2009 have totaled 30 billion cubic meters (bcm).
Turkmen gas exports to China increased three-fold between 2010 and 2011.
The global gas trade is expected to grow 35 percent, which the IEA attributes to increasing liquid natural gas (LNG) exports as well as more exports from the former Soviet states.