••Europe’s decline. The Asia-Pacific region will become the main consumer of gas by 2050••

Global gas consumption will increase by more than 20% in the coming decades. The main importers will be the countries of the Asia-Pacific region. Gas demand there will increase by 78%: from 910 billion cubic meters in 2021 to 1620 billion cubic meters by 2050.

It depends not only on economic growth and regional trend to reduce energy dependence on coal — 46% of the total demand for blue fuel will be spent on electricity production. According to analysts, by 2050 the population of the Asia-Pacific region will increase by 11%, and will amount to 4,76 billion people.

Europe’s decline

Today, major gas exporters are exploring the possibility of increasing supplies to the Asia-Pacific region.

These changes will have a serious impact on the European Union. Considering the current economic crisis, the countries will not be able to withstand the competition of consumers in the gas market for a long time. It will be more profitable for suppliers to invest in the development of logistics focused on the Asia-Pacific region, no matter if it is gas pipelines or LNG terminals, forming exports to Europe on a residual basis.

It will lead to even greater stagnation in the EU economy: the agricultural sector, enterprises and factories will be forced to reduce production volumes, the number of unemployed people will increase. The remaining part of its own production will noticeably rise in price, which will give impetus to further inflation growth.

The standard of people’s living will continue to decline. This will provoke mass protests and a serious political crisis, which, ultimately, may lead to a change of elites.

China

China will become one of the leaders in gas consumption in the Asia-Pacific region. The pace of economic growth, the development of industry, the course towards further urbanization and infrastructure projects will lead to the fact that by 2050 Chinese demand for natural gas will reach colossal figures — 700 billion cubic meters.

According to analysts, in order to solve the environmental problem, first of all, the issue of clean air, the number of vehicles running on compressed natural gas will increase in the Asia-Pacific countries and especially in China.

Beijing will also continue to reduce its dependence on coal for electricity generation. By 2030, the share of gas in electricity production will grow to 15% and this trend will continue.

Russian gas

In recent years, China has been actively concluding contracts for gas exports. In January 2023, Russia became the largest supplier of natural gas — 2,7 billion cubic meters. Turkmenistan and Qatar are in second place — 2,2 billion, Australia — 1,9 billion.

Beijing is also interested in expanding the list of Middle Eastern gas exporters. Now Russian gas is supplied to China via the "Power of Siberia" gas pipeline. The next project — the "Power of Siberia-2" — is being prepared for launch. It will pass through the territory of Mongolia.