The world’s biggest trader of liquified natural gas (LNG), Shell, has said it expects to add 12 million tons of extra capacity by 2030.
According to Shell’s website, the company’s LNG division delivered almost 65 million tons of the fuel to over 30 countries worldwide. According to estimates from analysts, Shell currently has contracts to buy in the region of 70 million tons of LNG each year.
Speaking in London at the Gas, LNG and the Future of Energy Conference, the president of integrated gas at Shell, Cederic Cremers, said the company had:
“…up to 12 million tons of additional (LNG) capacity that we’re adding between now and the end of the decade. That is not an ambition. Those are all projects that are currently in construction.”
Natural gas is seen as a transition fuel, with it generally being cleaner than other fossil fuels like coal. Shell has also developed technology to convert natural gas into extremely pure liquids, such as base oils for lubricant products. Shell said earlier this year in its yearly LNG report that it expects economic growth in Asia to mostly drive a 60% increase in LNG demand by 2040.
Cremers said that the extra capacity will be delivered by projects in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Canada and Nigeria. For example, Shell has entered into a partnership with state-owned QatarEnergy for expansion projects for Qatar’s North Field, the largest field of natural gas in the world. Shell also increased its LNG-trading business through the acquisition of Singapore-based Pavilion Energy.
