The “Golden Age” of natural gas that has taken such a strong foothold in North America will extend to China over the next 5 years, driven by booming demand, according to the latest 5-year gas market outlook from the Paris-based International Energy Agency . In its Medium-Term Gas Market Report 2014, IEA noted that a near-doubling of Chinese gas demand by 2019 will offset a slowdown in demand in other regions. The annual report sees global demand rising 2.2%/year by the end of the forecast period compared with the 2.4%/year rate projected in last year’s outlook. Much of this demand, IEA says, will be met by LNG as well as new pipelines. “In a shift away from the traditional dominance of state-owned suppliers, private-sector operators in Australia, Canada, and the US are taking the lead in the expansion of the LNG trade, which is expected to grow by […]