壳牌预计液化天然气市场将回暖

据6月11日Rigzone报道，全球最大的LNG贸易商荷兰皇家壳牌公司预计，液化天然气市场将恢复到疫情前的水平。

全球液化天然气需求在各国实施封锁期间受到严重打击，影响了从发电厂到运输和工厂等各个领域的液化天然气使用。在连续两个暖冬的打击下，全球出现了有史以来最大的燃料过剩危机。

壳牌首席执行官范伯登(Ben van Beurden)在一次采访中表示：“我们仍然非常相信，在当前的供需前景下，这是一个发展势头强劲的行业，将以每年近4%的速度增长。”

壳牌在展望中指出，预计到2040年，液化天然气的年需求将增加一倍，达到7亿吨。2019年液化天然气的消费量增长了13%，达到3.59亿吨。

国际能源署(International Energy Agency)预计，作为国际天然气贸易的主要推动力，液化天然气将在2019-2025年增长21%，年产量将达到5850亿立方米。IEA在周三发布的《2020年天然气》(Gas 2020)报告中称，增长将来自中国和印度。不过，贸易增长速度将低于液化产能增长速度，市场供应没有紧缩趋势。

该公司及其同行大幅削减开支以应对油价暴跌。国际石油巨头已将资本支出削减了20%至30%，不少项目被搁置。由于供过于求，壳牌在3月份放弃了价值数十亿美元的查尔斯湖液化天然气终端项目，但该公司首席财务官Jessica Uhl曾表示，其油气投资组合的减产不会是永久性的。

邹勤 摘译自Rigzone

原文如下：

Shell CEO Expects LNG Market Will Return to Pre-Virus Levels

Royal Dutch Shell Plc, the world’s largest liquefied natural gas trader, expects buying and selling of the fastest-growing fuel to recover to levels seen before the pandemic.

Global LNG demand took a severe hit when nations imposed lockdowns to combat the spread of the coronavirus, impacting the fuel’s use in everything from power plants to transport and factories. That came on top of the biggest glut of the fuel the world has ever seen, helped by two mild winters in a row.

“We still very much believe that with the current supply-demand outlook, this is a fundamentally strong sector that will grow at a rate that is close to 4% per year, Ben van Beurden, Shell’s chief executive officer, said in an interview.

In its outlook, Shell said it expects annual LNG demand to double to 700 million tons by 2040. Consumption increased by a record 13% to 359 million tons in 2019.

The International Energy Agency expects LNG, the main driver of international gas trade, to expand by 21% in 2019-2025, reaching 585 billion cubic meters annually. The growth will come from China and India, the IEA said in its Gas 2020 report published Wednesday. Trade will increase at a slower pace than liquefaction capacity additions, limiting the prospects of a tighter market, it said in the report.

The company and its peers slashed spending to cope with the collapse in oil prices. International majors have cut capital spending by 20% to 30% with projects being put on hold or shelved altogether. Shell walked away from the multibillion-dollar Lake Charles LNG terminal in March because of the glut, but Chief Financial Officer Jessica Uhl has said production cuts across its oil and gas portfolio would not be permanent.