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Abu Dhabi: Gas demand in the Arab region has grown faster than oil demand in the past 10 years to peak at 3.34 million barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2005, according to a study by the 10-nation Organisation of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (Oapec).
The demand is projected to rise to 4.08 million boed in 2010 and to 5.1 million in 2015 before it climbs to a record 6.4 million, an annual growth of 4.4 per cent between 2005 and 2020, the Kuwait-based Oapec said.
The growth is expected to expand the share of gas in the Arab energy market to 41.5 per cent in 2005 to 46.2 per cent in 2020.
The expansion will be at the expense of oil products demand, whose share will slide to around 51 per cent from 55.8 per cent in the same period, the study said.
It showed consumption of oil products is projected to grow from about 4.5 million bpd in 2005 to 5.14 million bpd in 2010, to 6.02 million bpd in 2015 and 7.07 million bpd in 2020, an annual growth rate of nearly 3.1 per cent during 2005-20.
"Our projections show that the gas share will continue to grow during that period while the market share of oil products will decline," the Oapec spokesman said.
As for the total energy consumption, it is forecast to increase from 8.05 million boed in 2005 to 9.46 million in 2010, to 11.44 million in 2015 and 13.85 million in 2020, an average annual growth rate of 3.7 per cent.
Saudi Arabia is expected to consume nearly a quarter of the total Arab energy demand in 2020 as its consumption is forecast to climb from 2.1 million bpd in 2005 to 3.47 million bpd in 2020.
"As for per capita energy consumption in the Arab world, it is projected to grow by 2.1 per cent to around 12.8 boed in 2020 from 9.4 ebpd in 2005 despite a rapid growth in the population," the study said.
"This increase will be a natural result of economic growth and plans by regional states to rely more on gas in their energy consumption mainly in industries, domestic use and power generation."
In a separate study, Oapec said that combined Arab gas exports have soared by more than 25 per cent over the past five years, leaping from 83,043 million cubic metres in 2000 to a record 104,770 million cubic metres in 2005.
The bulk of the increase was in Qatar, with its exports of natural and liquefied natural gas jumping from around 14,040 million cubic metres to 24,060 million cubic metres.
Qatar controls the third largest gas resources in the world after those of Russia and Iran, estimated at over 25 trillion cubic metres at the end of 2005.
The Gulf producer has embarked on mega projects to tap its mammoth North Field and become the world's number one in LNG exports, which have already exceeded 25 million tonnes a year and are projected to climb to 77 million tonnes in 2011.
Gas exports by the UAE increased slightly and there was sharp growth by Oman, which is not an Oapec or Opec member.
The report did not list Saudi Arabia in the exporter section as the Kingdom, the world's oil powerhouse, is struggling to exploit its gas reserves for domestic use.
It showed Saudi Arabia was by far the largest gas consumer in the region, with local demand rising from 635,000 boed in 2001 to 680,000 boed in 2005.
Gas consumption surged from 419,000 to 530,000 boed in the UAE, from 443,000 to 515,000 in Egypt, from 375,000 to 415,000 in Qatar and from 380,000 to 415,000 boed in Algeria.
There were also increases in Libya, Bahrain, Syria and Tunisia but declines in Kuwait and Iraq.
The report showed only a handful of new oil and gas discoveries were made in the region over the past few years as most member states are concentrating on developing their current hydrocarbon deposits for higher production and exports.
A total of 50 oil discoveries and 13 gas findings were reported in 2005 but most of them were relatively small and more than two thirds of them were made in Egypt as a result of intensified exploration programmes.
As a result, the proven Arab gas reserves remained almost unchanged at around 53,353 billion cubic metres at the end of 2005 compared with 53,263 billion cubic metres at the end of 2004 and nearly 52,240 billion cubic metres at the end of 2000.
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