FUTURE BRIGHT FOR GAS SUPPLIERS: YERGIN

Gas will continue to expand it role in energy markets in the coming decades and will become a more globally traded commodity than ever before, world energy and geopolitics expert, Daniel Yergin predicts. And gas giant Russia will play an increasingly important role in this scenario, he says: “Russia is a big player for Europe. Europe will be focussed on Russia, which has seen a quite dramatic slowdown in oil output,” Yergin told journalists in the Italian capital, Rome on Thursday. He was presenting Italian energy giant ENI’s sixth “World Oil and Gas Review” together with ENI CEO, Paolo Scaroni.

“Gas consumption is growing at twice the rate of oil. Gas is becoming an ever-more fundamental part of consumption patterns,” Scaroni said, noting that ENI is Europe’s number-one gas supplier. A problem for gas and oil offshore projects is the cost of investments: these have climbed 68 percent since 2000, Yergin underlined.

ADN Kronos International