By Emily Chow and Marwa Rashad
MILAN (Reuters) – Exxon Mobil expects strong growth in demand for liquefied natural gas (LNG) in China, driven by transport and marine sectors, and sees rising opportunities in new markets across Asia Pacific, Africa and Latin America, a senior company executive told Reuters on Tuesday.
China, the world’s largest LNG importer, signed deals on September 2 to boost gas supply through the existing Power of Siberia pipeline and to build the Power of Siberia 2, raising concerns in that this could displace China’s appetite for imported LNG.
“Recent Russia-China gas agreements don’t change our plans and expectations in China,” said Andrew Barry, vice president of global LNG marketing and chairman of Exxon Mobil LNG market development.
“I’m very bullish on China, we believe that LNG will continue to grow and be competitive in the China landscape,” he said on the sidelines of Gastech conference in Milan, adding that LNG-fueled trucks and marine vessels are expanding fast and are massive growth areas in China.
In August, Exxon forecast global demand for gas to rise more than 20% by 2050 from last year’s level, as it displaces coal to power industries and meet higher electricity use in developing countries.
Barry said the top U.S. oil and gas producer was in discussions across several regions for potential investments and target markets, declining to give further details.
“There are new markets that have a need for natural gas and need for LNG, and the demand is there, but they haven’t the infrastructure in place yet, but we see that in Asia Pacific, Vietnam, Thailand, Philippines, South Africa, and Colombia are significant potential markets,” he said.
Barry dismissed concerns about an LNG oversupply as projects in Qatar and the U.S. start to come online from next year, saying that demand will rise to meet the supply.
The $10 billion, 18 million metric ton per annum Golden Pass terminal in Sabine Pass, Texas, jointly owned by Exxon and QatarEnergy, is one of the projects that should bring new supply to the market later this year.
Barry said that Train 1 at the project is 97% complete, and that the company aims for first LNG from Train 1 around the end of the year.
(Reporting by Marwa Rashad and Emily Chow; Additional reporting by Francesca Landini; Editing by Marguerita Choy)
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