14 Competition, Commoditisation & Consolidation
● ● Existing markets can at times
be unpredictable. Few people, if
anyone, expected China's demand
to grow as rapidly as it did
between 2015 and 2018 (see p5).
The contribution that new markets
have made to LNG trade since
2008 is shown in the chart above.
Volumes have grown from year
to year, as has the number of new
markets. However, 2018 showed
a fall and it is becoming harder to
open up new markets as the low-
hanging fruit is picked. Almost all
the countries above were existing gas
markets and so had infrastructure
and institutions already in place.
What can be said with reasonable
certainty is that the number of
LNG-importing countries will
continue to grow and LNG volumes
will continue to rise. Even in
2018, the decline of imports into
new markets was more than offset
by growth in China and other
established markets.
Source: GIIGNL
LNG imports into new markets, 2008-2018 (million tonnes)
Panama
Bangladesh
Malta
Poland
Jamaica
Finland
Colombia
Pakistan
Jordan
Egypt
Lithuania
Singapore
Malaysia
Israel
Indonesia
Thailand
Netherlands
UAE
Kuwait
Chile
Canada
Brazil
Argentina
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2018 2017
Million
tonnes
