ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with the description of the world gas trade by directing our attention to those great markets which are served by the overwhelming bulk of natural gas moving internationally: the United States, Western Europe and Japan. There are three major international gas trade markets: Western Europe, North America and Asia. In the majority of natural gas trades, the time span from the start of negotiations to the end of the contract term generally exceeds thirty years. Large scale natural gas trade in Western Europe was made possible by the discovery of the Groningen field in the Netherlands, which started the “gas revolution” on the Continent. Japan came to natural gas trade only in the late 1960s and early 1970s as a response to two developments, one domestic and one international. Growth of gas usage in Third World countries by development of domestic reserves and by means of imports from neighbors is a development which should not be ignored.
