亚洲市场疲软致全球天然气需求增长放缓

据路透社6月4日伦敦报道，国际能源署（IEA）周四表示，由于亚洲市场表现得比预期更加疲软，全球天然气需求的年平均增速将在未来五年中减缓至2%。

IEA在其年度中期天然气展望报告中提到，过去10年天然气需求增速为平均每年2.3%，现在正在逐渐放慢，预计到2020年，需求量会达到39260亿立方米。

亚洲天然气价格与石油价格挂钩，石油价格在过去一年中大幅度下跌，短期来看，天然气需求会因价格下跌而增加，但是一些亚洲国家已经决心专注于燃煤发电，而不是燃气发电。

低油价也同样影响到了天然气供应方面，一些公司削减资本支出，将精力转移到能快速得到回报的核心资产上，这导致天然气生产中期出现放缓。而LNG项目最容易成为资本削减的目标，其中一些将会出现延迟甚至被取消，因为这些项目需要大量资金和较长的生产前置时间。

沈佳蕾摘自路透社

原文如下:

IEA sees slower rise in global gas demand as Asian markets weaken

LONDON, June 4 (Reuters) - Growth in natural gas demand will slow to an average 2 percent a year globally over the next five years, largely due to weaker than expected Asian markets, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Thursday.

Gas demand growth will decelerate from the average 2.3 percent recorded over the past 10 years, to reach 3,926 billion cubic metres by 2020, the agency said in its annual medium-term gas outlook report.

Asian gas prices are indexed-linked to oil prices which have fallen significantly over the past year. In the short term, gas demand will benefit from falling prices, but some Asian countries have decided to focus on coal-fired power generation instead of gas-fired.

The supply side will also feel the effects of lower oil prices. Companies are cutting capital expenditure and focusing on core assets with fast returns, which will lead to slower production growth over the medium term.

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects are easy targets for investment cuts, the report said, because they require a lot of capital and have long lead times, so several are likely to be delayed or cancelled.