Between the Old and New Worlds of Natural Gas Demand

The evolution of natural gas demand centers has underscored important differences between existing and potential gas consumers. Much of this is rooted in the level of economic development and societal wealth in countries, as well as ease of access to natural gas resources. In this context, countries lend themselves to classification into “Old World” and “New World” of gas demand. Though imprecise, such dichotomy helps understand different needs that countries have as well as different role gas can play in countries’ energy futures. In the Old World, natural gas has been an important and useful commodity over the past decades, but many countries now aim to reduce gas consumption as part of their decarbonization policies. Higher levels of economic development, societal wealth, and environmental awareness typical for the Old World make such goals less controversial than in the countries of the New World where natural gas has been underutilized and needs to compete with coal that often is the main source of energy supply. Natural gas offers new avenues for growth and better quality of life for billions of people including those living within the borders of new economic powerhouses, China and India, and beyond. But as promising as it is, monetization of natural gas in the New World faces serious obstacles related to affordability, insufficient and expensive infrastructure, lack of competitive markets, often burdensome regulatory conditions, and general energy security concerns since much of the world needs to import natural gas from often faraway sources.