ABSTRACT
Starting from the mid-1980s, gas has progressively become the fuel of choice in major energy markets. Aggregate global demand increased from 1,656 billion cubic metres per year in 1985 to approximately 2,093 bcm/yr in 1995. This presents an average growth rate of 2.4 per cent per annum. This growth rate has long been exceeded due to increasing use of gas in industrial and domestic facilities. In regional context the 2.4 per cent figure is quite low considering the fact that Asia Pacific recorded a growth rate of over 7 per cent per annum (i.e. from 108 bcm/yr to 215 bcm/yr). Between the mid-1980s and 2004 gas demand grew much faster than primary energy. Aggregate growth in primary energy during the period under reference was about 1.6 per cent per year compared to well over 2.4 per cent per year for gas. In the Asia Pacific region growth in primary energy was estimated to be 4.8 per annum compared to an annual growth rate of 7 per cent per annum for gas. It was observed that in the developed economies such as Europe only a modest growth rate of 0.4 per annum was achieved for primary energy compared to 2.5 per cent year annum for gas demand.1
