A Guest Post by Dr. Minqi Li, Professor Department of Economics, University of Utah E-mail: [email protected] August 2018 This is Part 3 of the World Energy Annual Report in 2018. This part of the Annual Report provides updated analysis of world natural gas production and consumption, evaluates the future prospect of world natural gas supply and considers the implications of peak natural gas production for global economic growth. Natural gas is in a relatively early phase of depletion. According to the German Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources, world cumulative natural gas production up to 2016 was 117 trillion cubic meters, world natural gas reserves were 197 trillion cubic meters, and world natural gas resources were 643 trillion cubic meters (BGR 2017, Table A-15). BGR defines “resources” as “proven amounts of energy resources which cannot currently be exploited for technical and/or economic reasons, as well as unproven but […]