The natural gas market, still in its early years, is looking to secure a place in the global energy distribution scheme in the face of major technical challenges and high geopolitical stakes.
About seven tenths of the world's natural gas reserves are concentrated in two regions - the Middle East and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the loose association of 12 of the one-time constituent republics of the former Soviet Union.
Russia alone has nearly 27 percent of total world reserves, Iran 15 percent and the Gulf state of Qatar 14 percent, a similar pattern of distribution to that of world oil reserves. Gas reserves are vast, estimated to be able easily to meet demand at a growth rate of two to three percent annually for many decades to come, and likely to rise to 26-27 percent of primary energy demand by 2020.
Gas prices, indexed to those of oil, have continued on a rising spiral in recent years and experts say they will continue bullish for a while yet. But the natural gas market, despite its environmental advantages, has so far reached nothing like the state of maturity of oil, having been relatively neglected for a long time.
Transportation proved a big obstacle, preventing gas being much beyond its immediate production area.
During the 1960s and 1970s, oil prospectors regularly had to block up dis-used gas wells, one specialist recalled.
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