据油价网2021年8月14日报道，这是英国石油公司（BP）最近发布的《2021年世界能源统计回顾》系列文章的第四篇文章。 之前的三篇文章概述了今年的《回顾》，对碳排放数据进行了审查，并对石油供需趋势进行了审视。
今天第四篇文章将深入研究天然气生产和消费的数据。
直到上世纪80年代，美国一直在全球天然气生产中占据主导地位，当时美国把领先地位让给了俄罗斯。 在过去的50年里，中东地区的天然气产量也在快速增长，并正朝着全球领先的方向发展。
美国的天然气产量一直在下降，直到2005年水力压裂热潮开始提振天然气产量。 从2005年到2020年，美国的天然气产量惊人地增长了86%，使美国重新成为全球天然气生产国中的领头羊。
天然气消费量
由于发电厂越来越多地将天然气作为燃煤发电的替代能源和可再生能源的后备能源，美国的天然气消费量迅速增长。
天然气供应的增加和发电厂的改造带来的净影响使天然气成为增长最快的化石燃料。 过去10年，全球天然气消费量以年均2.9%的速度增长，而石油和煤炭的消费量分别为1.5%和0.9%。
为应对Covid-19大流行，去年美国天然气产量大幅下降。 唯一可与之相比的下降发生在2008年房地产危机期间，自那之后，天然气消费增长恢复了正常趋势。
自1965年以来，美国一直是世界上最大的天然气消费国。 2020年，除了墨西哥和德国的排名发生了变化外，前10大消费国与2019年完全相同。
天然气产量
在所有国家中，美国在2011年成为全球天然气产量的领先者，并在此后大幅增长。去年，由于Covid-19大流行对天然气价格产生了负面影响，美国的天然气产量下降了1.9%，但仍占全球产量的23.7%。
去年美国天然气产量为883亿立方英尺/天，高于整个中东地区的天然气产量(663亿立方英尺/天)。前10大天然气生产国排名与2019年相同。
天然气出口量
天然气生产繁荣的另一个结果是某些国家的天然气出口量大幅增长。 美国通过管道和液化天然气(LNG)形式的天然气出口在过去10年里激增。 去年，美国LNG出口量增长至610亿立方米。 在2010年，这个数字只有15亿立方米。 美国现在是全球第3大LNG出口国，仅次于澳大利亚(1062亿立方米)和卡塔尔(1061亿立方米)。
美国的管道天然气出口也大幅增长，过去10年增长了近两倍，达到了761亿立方米。 墨西哥一直是美国管道天然气出口增长最快的市场，去年美国管道天然气进口总量为543亿立方米。 加拿大是美国管道天然气出口的另一个重要目的地，为218亿立方米。
天然气储量
美国可能还会在未来几年继续在天然气生产方面领先世界，但其探明天然气储量意味着美国的领先可能是短暂的。
2017年底，中东探明天然气储量为2.8千万亿立方英尺，而美国探明天然气储量为446万亿立方英尺。从现在来看，美国探明天然气储量仅占全球探明天然气总量的6.7%。
俄罗斯探明天然气储量超过其他任何国家，有1.3千万亿立方英尺。
李峻 编译自 油价网
原文如下：
U.S. Natural Gas Dominance May Be Coming To An End
The is the fourth article in a series align="justify"> Today I delve into the data align="justify"> The U.S. had dominated global natural gas production until the 1980s, at which time it ceded the lead to Russia. The Middle East has also grown its natural gas production at a rapid pace over the past 50 years, and was align="justify"> Natural gas production had been in decline in the U.S. until the fracking boom that began to boost production in 2005. Production grew in the U.S. by an astounding 86% from 2005 to 2020, which pushed the U.S. back into the global lead among natural gas producers.
Natural Gas Consumption
U.S. consumption has grown rapidly as power plants have turned increasingly to natural gas as both a replacement for coal-fired power and a backup for new renewable capacity.
The net impact of growing natural gas supplies and conversion of power plants has caused natural gas to become the fastest-growing fossil fuel. Over the past decade, global natural gas consumption has grown at an average annual rate of 2.9%, versus 1.5% for oil and 0.9% for coal.
Production fell sharply in 2020 in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The align="justify"> The U.S. has consistently been the world’s top natural gas consumer since 1965. In 2020, the Top 10 consumers were exactly the same as in 2019, except Mexico and Germany switched positions.
Natural Gas Production
Among all countries, the U.S. moved into the lead for natural gas production in 2011, and has since substantially grown that lead. In 2020, U.S. production declined by 1.9% in response to the Covid-19 pandemic — which negatively impacted gas prices — but the U.S. retained a commanding 23.7% share of global production.
To put U.S. production into perspective, the 88.3 billion cubic feet per day (BCF/d) the U.S. produced in 2020 was greater than all Middle East natural gas production (66.3 BCF/d). The Top 10 producers were the same as in 2019.
Natural Gas Exports
Another result of the boom in natural gas production has been substantial growth in the gas exports of certain countries. U.S. exports, both via pipeline and as liquefied natural gas (LNG), have surged over the past 10 years. U.S. LNG exports grew last year to 61 billion cubic meters (BCM). For perspective, in 2010 that number was 1.5 BCM. The U.S. is now the 3rd largest LNG exporter, behind Australia (106.2 BCM) and Qatar (106.1 BCM).
Pipeline exports from the U.S. have also surged, nearly tripling over the past decade to 76.1 BCM. Mexico has been the largest growth market for pipeline exports, with 54.3 BCM of the total in 2020. Canada was the other destination of U.S. pipeline exports at 21.8 BCM.
Natural Gas Reserves
The U.S. may continue to lead the world in natural gas production for a few more years, but the level of proved natural gas reserves implies that our lead could be short-lived.
The Middle East’s proved natural gas reserves at the end of 2017 were 2.8 quadrillion cubic feet, versus U.S. proved reserves of 446 trillion cubic feet. For perspective, U.S. proved reserves are align="justify"> Russia has more proved natural gas reserves than any other country with 1.3 quadrillion cubic feet.