Demand for gas growing faster than overall energy consumption, energy transitions not cutting use of other fuels - Gazprom

BAKU. Nov 14 (Interfax) - Global demand for gas will grow faster than overall energy consumption over the long-term, Deputy Department Head and Administration Head at Gazprom Kirill Polous said during the COP29 conference.

"Natural gas is currently a resource that's in high demand, and will be in high demand in the future. Demand for it will grow at rates that exceed global demand for energy overall. Subsequently up to 2050, the world's demand for energy will increase by around 20% owing to economic development. A fairly major change in the structure of the world's energy and fuel balance is expected. The share of oil and coal will fall, while the size of the share of natural gas and renewable energy sources will grow significantly. Demand for gas will grow at higher rates than overall demand for energy [by between 30% and 50%]. The Asia-Pacific Region will be the main driver of the growth in demand," he said.

Polous said he is certain that the global energy industry's next transition to new types of fuel which is currently being promoted will not harm demand for gas. Experts have distinguished four energy transitions throughout history: from bio fuel to coal, from coal to oil, from oil to gas, and from gas to renewables, he said.

"In practice, if we take a sufficiently long historical perspective, we see that each stage of the energy transition has not been characterized by abandoning the previously dominant energy resource, but rather by continuing to increase the use of the previous dominant resource alongside growing use of the new one. Thus, we expect the decades-long trend of growth in demand for natural gas to continue at a pace higher than the demand for energy overall. We believe that gas is an optimal and essential resource which is called upon to make a significant contribution to achieving climate goals," he said.

"Climate change has attracted universal attention for decades, but only in the last few years has another issue - energy security - begun to come to the forefront," he said.