Record investments of $50 billion have turned 2019 into a banner year for liquefied natural gas, with Canada and the United States being the main drivers, the chief of the International Energy Agency said on Thursday.
The industrial sector is Asia’s biggest driver of LNG, with China expected to overtake Japan as the world’s top importer of the fuel in five years, said Fatih Birol, the agency’s executive director.
“This year, 2019 already broke the highest amount of (final investment decisions) for the first time ever, $50 billion,” he told the annual LNG Producer-Consumer conference in Tokyo. “The biggest growth is coming from China,” Birol added. “In the next five years, about one-third of global LNG demand will come from China alone.”
