Qatar – World's Biggest LNG Exporter
Qatar has retained the crown of the biggest exporters of natural gas and the biggest exporter of liquid gas or LNG in the world, reports The Peninsula.
The country exported nearly 77 million tonnes (MT) of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) in 2014 which was approximately one-third of global supply, according to International Gas Union report.
Malaysia and Australia — the world’s second and third largest LNG producers respectively — saw LNG exports reach an all time high. In 2014, Malaysia exported around 25MT LNG while Australia exported 23MT.
Nigeria was the fourth largest exporter providing around 19MT to the market. Overall, LNG trade globally reached around 241MT in 2014, a 4.3MT increase over 2013 levels, added the report.
Qatar ranks third in the world in terms of natural gas reserves and it holds about 13.1 percent of the world’s total proven gas reserves. It remained the largest LNG exporter with a sizeable margin as the gap between Qatar and its competitors was huge.
In Asia, Qatar faces challenges from Australia and the United States. Australia is its biggest rival in the Asian market, and will likely continue to be so.
The country has completed its big projects of increasing its liquefied natural gas production capacities and further growth in quantities should come from the technical improvement of the existing equipment.