US, Nigeria, Iraq Drive Reserves Growth: Eni
World gas reserves rose by 0.9% in 2016, according to the second edition of the World Oil & Gas Review published October 30 by Italy's Eni.
In the US, the world’s largest gas producer, output slightly declined (-3.2%) although reserves grew. Nigeria and Iraq were the two other countries seeing large reserves growth.
For the first time, this year the Review has been split into two separate volumes: the first one, the World Oil Review, dedicated to the oil industry, came out in the summer. The second one, the World Gas & Renewables Review, dedicated to natural gas and renewable energy sources, had not been uploaded to the website at time of press.
Global gas output rose by 0.7%, driven mainly by new Australian LNG plants.
Russia remains the top holder of gas reserves (25% of the world’s total). Among the top ten, six are Opec countries with 32% of the world’s total.
In Europe, Norway’s production was almost flat after a strong jump in 2015, and output fell 3% in the European Union.
In Russia, the world’s second gas producer, output rose after the decline registered last year. World gas demand recorded robust growth in 2016 (+2%), thanks to a strong recovery in Europe (+5.4%), mainly thanks to the power sector and weather conditions, and in the Asia-Pacific region (+5.1%), led by strong demand in China (+8.6%). Gas demand also rose substantially in India and South Korea; UK, Germany, Italy, and France reported the highest increases in Europe.
At the end of 2016, installed solar and wind capacity (296 and 467 GW respectively) accounted for almost 40% of total installed renewable power capacity (about 15% of all power sources).
China leads the market for solar and wind with an installed capacity of 226 GW (30% of the world total). Solar photovoltaic capacity additions grew by 50% compared to 2015, reaching 71 GW as costs keep falling.
The contribution of modern renewables to power generation remains lower than their contribution to capacity owing to low average capacity factors: less than 25% for wind and 15% for solar.
Publication of Eni's World Gas & Renewables Review follows similar reviews of the global gas industry in 2016 by Cedigaz last week and BP in June.
William Powell