Global gas markets long-term outlook H2 2018: Middle East and East-Med

Over the last decade, natural gas has become the fuel of choice to meet a soaring domestic demand in the Middle East. However, strong disparities have emerged from unequal gas resource distribution, while geopolitics have limited cooperation on gas infrastructure and trade. Rapid growth of domestic demand has also created distortions – with subsidies supporting inefficient and over-use of gas and electricity. But new gas production is becoming more technically challenging. Pricing reforms are slowly becoming a reality and diversification is progressing. How will this impact the outlook for gas in the region? The gas landscape in the East-Mediterranean region will also change profoundly over the next years. Regional trade will enhance cooperation between countries and ultimately lead to gas surplus. LNG imports, which have been critical to filling the gap, are set to disappear. In turn, LNG exports are becoming a reality again, but challenges remain to achieve maximum utilisation.