THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE INTERNATIONAL GAS TRADE

Abstract

Natural gas is at last coming into its own, with production rising steadily as the world's major energy consumers come to terms with the finiteness of the oil resource. A pioneer in the field of liquefied natural gas (LNC) is undoubtedly Algeria's SONATRACH. In the following article, Nordine Ait Laoussine, whose name is indivisibly linked with the growth of gas marketing operations in his country, analyses the future supply/demand situation, before going on to deal with conditions which will have to be observed, and difficulties surmounted, if international trade in gas is to be successfully developed. He points out that whilst OPEC's position as custodian of the world's gas reserves is not as dominant as it is in crude oil, OPEC Member Countries still dispose of very large quantities of gas which are already known and which could be developed for export markets. “Surely it makes sense” Mr. Ait Laoussine argues, “for consumer countries to encourage the development of these proven energy reserves now, rather than to invest in expensive, technically untried processes such as in‐situ coal gasification.”