A breakdown of those changes in the natural gas market landscape

　　Since the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia, the global natural gas market has been characterized by changes in supply and demand, sharp price fluctuations, and continuous growth in trade volume.
Han Qingmei, a natural gas analyst at Jinlianchuang, believes that in the post-epidemic era, the feasibility of natural gas for the decarbonization of the global energy system, The importance of economy, sustainability and safety will become even more prominent
.

　　The epidemic has had a certain impact on the supply and demand of the global natural gas market
.
From the perspective of supply, according to Jinlianchuang’s monitoring, from 2020 to 2021, the international natural gas market has experienced both oversupply and supply shortage.
The Ukraine crisis in 2022 has promoted the process of supply diversification in the natural gas market of downstream consuming countries
.
From the perspective of demand, according to IGU data, the spread of the epidemic in 2020 will reduce the level of world economic activity, and global natural gas demand will drop by 2%.
However, in 2021, the economic rebound and local extreme cold weather will increase natural gas demand by 4% year-on-year
.
"Although the epidemic has a significant impact on the global energy system, the reliability and flexibility of natural gas have been verified by the market.
On the one hand, it ensures the needs of key social sectors such as electricity, water supply, medical equipment manufacturing, and food production, and on the other hand, natural gas supply It also adapts to the sudden change in demand caused by the difference in the time and place of the outbreak
.
" Han Qingmei said
.

　　Global natural gas prices fluctuated violently during the epidemic
.
In 2020, due to the impact of the epidemic, natural gas prices in three major natural gas centers (the Dutch natural gas trading agency TTF, the Henry Hub in the United States, and the LNG spot trading market in Japan and South Korea) fell to record lows
.
In 2020, TTF gas prices fell to $1.
2 per megawatt, according to IGU citing Rystad Energy data
.
In 2021, both spot and TTF gas prices in Asia are at record highs as the pace of global economic activity picks up and demand in the gas market grows
.
Entering 2022, the Ukrainian crisis has exacerbated the tight supply situation in the natural gas market, and the price of natural gas has soared rapidly
.
As of July 15, 2022, the spot prices of LNG, TTF and HH in Northeast Asia were US$39.
049/MMBtu, US$47.
171/MMBtu and US$6.
605/MMBtu respectively, a year-on-year increase of 194.
13% , 304.
83% and 79.
19%
.

　　During the epidemic, global natural gas consumption declined rapidly
.
According to IGU data, natural gas consumption decreased by 2.
1% year-on-year in 2020
.
Since the third quarter of 2021, natural gas has begun to face the challenge of replacing coal
.
However, Han Qingmei believes that since the increase in global carbon emissions since 2019 is not in line with the mainstream trend of global carbon reduction, the challenge of increased coal supply to natural gas is only temporary
.

　　Global LNG trade volumes have continued to grow during the pandemic
.
According to IGU data, global LNG trade will increase by 2% to 362 million tons in 2020 and by 6% to 385 million tons in 2021
.
Among them, China's strong economic growth has driven the continuous increase in the amount of imported LNG.
In 2021, China will surpass Japan to become the world's largest LNG importer
.
Pipeline gas trade declined in 2020 but rebounded in 2021
.

　　In the post-pandemic era, natural gas will play a key role in the global energy transition and decarbonization
.
Han Qingmei believes that natural gas will provide near-term, medium-term and long-term value to the energy industry
.
In the short term, natural gas can directly replace coal and oil in the power, industry and transport sectors, and can also assist the application of renewable energy, especially to compensate for intermittent outages when renewable energy supplies power to the grid
.
In addition, low-carbon and zero-carbon gases such as hydrogen, biomethane and natural gas will support deep decarbonization across industries along with renewables and other fuels
.
(Reporter Liu Yelin)

From: International Business Daily