Natural Gas Market is growing

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Natural gas: Why it's important and what you need to know. CNBC. As the world looks to diversify its energy mix one source, natural gas, is becoming increasingly important. The International Energy Agency (IEA) says that natural gas is viewed "as a good source of electricity supply" for a range of reasons. According to the IEA, natural gas is seen as "lower carbon" relative to other fossil fuels. In addition, it takes around two years to build gas plants, which is seen as being relatively quick, while its share of the global energy mix is increasing at two percent annually until 2020. For its part, the U.S. Department of Energy has described natural gas as playing a "vital role" in the U.S. energy supply. The DOE says that natural gas consumption is set to hit 26.6 trillion cubic feet by 2035, up from 24.3 trillion cubic feet in 2011.

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U.S. LNG expands to Eastern Europe as Poland avoids Russian gas. Bloomberg. The U.S. is set to ship its first shale gas to a member of the former Soviet bloc as Europe seeks to cut its dependence on fuel from Russia. Poland’s state-owned PGNiG SA bought a spot liquefied natural gas cargo from Cheniere Energy’s Sabine Pass plant for delivery in June to the nation’s Baltic Sea import terminal, the first such contract for Central and Eastern Europe, it said Thursday. No LNG has been shipped to northern Europe since Sabine Pass started exports more than a year ago. Poland may offer a new outlet for Cheniere, which said it’s targeting emerging markets as new production facilities from Australia to the U.S. lead to a glut of the fuel. Poland’s Law & Justice government has sought to cut the nation’s dependence on Russia’s Gazprom for more than two-thirds of gas supplies, stating it has no plan to extend a long-term supply contract beyond 2022 and plans new infrastructure including a pipeline to Norway. The agreement is historic and “commercially attractive,” Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo said in an interview with TVP Info television on Thursday, without being more specific on pricing.