While oil prices have fallen this year as OPEC+ returns shuttered production, natural gas has remained strong in both Asia and Europe, O’Neill said in a separate interview with Bloomberg TV. LNG is traditionally sold under long-term contracts linked to oil. However, Woodside has benefited as about a quarter of its fuel is sold with an indexation to gas, O’Neill said.
Tokyo Gas Co. is in discussions with multiple U.S. liquefied natural gas suppliers to secure a long-term purchase agreement, as rising energy demand leaves Japan increasingly dependent on the fuel source.
In the past, oil price wars were short, sharp and, to those who profited from them, sweet. Now, an oil price war is a more cautious affair—assuming what OPEC is doing with its supply return is a price war, of course. And because most assume just that, all eyes are on the group’s chances of success. These are uncertain, to say the least, with most demand forecasts predicting a disaster for prices.
The power sector – which currently accounts for 18 percent of China’s gas consumption – is viewed by the industry as a key engine of growth, according to people involved in advising on energy policy. Under the sector’s latest proposal, China would build nearly 70 gigawatts of new gas-fired capacity by 2030, an almost 50 percent increase from 2025’s estimated level, they said, asking not to be named as the plan is not public.
Speaking at an industry event in Paris, GIIGNL President Anne-Sophie Corbeau noted that although long-term fundamentals remain strong, short- to medium-term demand projections are increasingly difficult to pin down due to volatile pricing, geopolitical fragmentation, and uneven economic recoveries in key Asian markets. GIIGNL’s annual report, also released today, underscores that while global LNG imports reached 405 million tonnes in 2024 — up from 401 million in 2023 — growth is slowing, and regional dynamics are diverging.
Crude oil prices slumped by 3% earlier this year as traders digested the barrage of tariffs that President Trump unleashed on U.S. trade partners. Between 10% and 34% for the biggest trade partners of the United States, the tariffs are expected to affect demand for pretty much everything, including energy commodities.