Globally LNG production has increased to more than 230mn tonnes a year and is expected to further increase to 370mn a year by 2020, RasGas chief executive officer Hamad Mubarak al-Muhannadi has said. 
Yet, the growth in demand for LNG has been as significant, al-Muhannadi said at LNG 18 International Conference and Exhibition on Liquefied Natural Gas in Perth, Australia.
 “Approximately, 30 countries currently import LNG, twice the number of countries importing just 10 years ago, and RasGas anticipates that the pace of growth will continue, and that many more customers and countries will be importing LNG in the next decade,” he said.
Despite a potential near-term oversupply of liquefied natural gas, investment in new liquefaction projects will be crucial to avoid a possible under-supply situation in the early 2020s, al-Muhannadi said.
In his speech titled ‘The Globalisation of Gas,’ al-Muhannadi examined the LNG industry’s changing market dynamics, focusing on the past decade’s rapid increase in production capacity and liquidity, and ever-growing global LNG demand.
Given this significant increase in global demand, al-Muhannadi indicated that under supply could be the market reality in the early 2020s “if no new projects are sanctioned”. 
“As the global market for LNG continues to evolve, we must remember that it is still a business that requires significant capital investment in both the upstream and downstream. In order for companies to succeed in the new global market, they will require a long-term vision and the resilience to overcome short-term uncertainty,” he said.
RasGas exports to countries across Asia, Europe and the Americas with a total LNG production capacity of approximately 37mn tonnes a year. 
More than 2,000 participants are attending the LNG 18 Conference, where worldwide industry leaders will address the evolving technological, commercial, social and environmental challenges facing the LNG industry.