"The number of LNG importers will double and even become much larger in the 21st century," Shell International Executive Vice President for Commercial LNG Guy Outen said at Indogas Conference and Exhibition here on Wednesday.
The countries that had been importing LNG since the start of this century included Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Argentine, China, India, Britain and Portugal. Before 2000, the countries that had been importing LNG included the United States, Greece, Turkey, and a number of western European countries, he said.
The rising gas demand was because gas was in abundance, easily acceptable to buyers and relatively cheaper than other fuels, he said.
He said the current gas reserves, either those found conventionally or non-conventionally, were enough to meet demand for more than 250 years.
Earlier, on Tuesday, Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Darwin Zahedy Saleh said domestic gas consumption continued to increase all the time in line with rising demand from the industrial sector to curb production cost and improve efficiency.
"In 2010 gas allocated to the domestic market accounted for 50 percent of the total sales. This year we will increase it to 57 percent of the total sales," he said.
Data from the ministry show domestic gas consumption continued to increase in the past five years. Domestic gas consumption stood at 3,541 MMSCFD in 2005, rose to 3,716.1 MMSCFD in 2006, and further moved up to 4,233.7 MMSCFD in 2009. (*)
Editor: Kunto Wibisono
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