The International Energy Agency (IEA) has recently put out a report highlighting the increasingly important role of natural gas within the global energy spectrum.

The IEA sees nat gas increasing its share of the global energy mix by 2.4% per year until 2018.  The interesting element in this trajectory of growth is the emergence of the role of natural gas as a transportation fuel.  While in the long term, renewables may become part of the answer and in the very short term electric solutions may be ahead, the intermediate landscape might belong to nat gas.

Large shale gas discoveries in the US and environmental concerns across the globe (including China) should help transform nat gas into a mainstream transportation fuel.  The IEA reports that already in the previous decade (2000-2010) utilization of gas for transportation purposes has grown tenfold.

The IEA report also highlights tightness in the LNG global market and invites major producing countries to implement LNG supportive policies.  This is an important policy factor in the US where the debate on relaxing regulations dedicated to LNG exports are being fiercely lobbied by both sides.