According to the 2015 Medium-Term Gas Market Report released by the International Energy Agency (IEA), global gas demand should increase by 2%/year on average by 2020 (compared to a previous forecast of +2.3%/year). High gas prices (oil-indexed) in Asia have led to a weaker demand in the region with consumers substituting other energies to gas and gas demand is not expected to recover as quickly as the recent fall in oil prices. In the short term, gas demand should benefit from lower prices, but in the longer term, prospects become more uncertain, especially in Asia. In China, gas demand is still expected to soar between 2015 and 2020 (+50%, from about 200 bcm in 2015 to more than 300 bcm in 2020), due to a doubling in gas consumption from the power sector.
On the supply side, LNG export capacities are expected to rise by more than 40% by 2020, with 90% of the new capacities coming from Australia and the United States. By 2020, Europe is expected to raise its gas imports by almost 1/3 between 2014 and 2020: LNG imports should double, while pipeline imports from Russia should remain at around 150 - 160 bcm.