Arab Energy Organization: Global LNG trade grows by 1.6% in Q4

Jamal Al-Loughani, Secretary-General of the Arab Energy Organization, said today, Tuesday, that global LNG trade achieved modest growth of 1.6% in the last quarter of 2024, the lowest growth rate since 2020.

He attributed, in a statement on the occasion of the organization’s issuance of the fourth quarterly report for 2024 on developments in LNG and hydrogen, this modest rate to the limited growth of supplies in the global market due to the entry of a small number of new projects into the production map, in addition to the sharp decline in LNG exports from some exporting countries due to the growth in local demand for gas and the decline in their gas production.

He explained, according to the Kuwait News Agency (KUNA), that the share of Arab countries during the last quarter of last year amounted to about 26.4 percent of the total global trade for the year 2024.

Al-Loughani expected supplies to increase by about 4 percent over 2024 levels, to record about 427 million tons during 2025, which may contribute to meeting the expected growth in European demand for liquefied natural gas.

He stated that Arab countries were present in the global hydrogen scene, and were able to sign several memoranda of understanding with international partners in the field of hydrogen production and exploitation during 2024, which resulted in an increase in the number of announced projects in Arab countries until the end of 2024 to 127 projects.

The member states of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) issued a decision in December 2024 to restructure the organization, reformulate the agreement to establish and develop its work, and change its name to the “Arab Energy Organization” (AEO).