BGR Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe

Natural gas

Natural gas is considered to be the lowest-emission fossil energy resource, as it emits significantly less CO2 and air pollutants during combustion than coal and crude oil. Therefore, natural gas is often seen as a building block to accompany the energy transition to a decarbonised energy supply.

Global natural gas consumption fell by around 1.5 % in 2020 compared to the previous year. Annual production decreased by around 3 % to about 4 tcm. The USA, the Russian Federation, Iran and China were the largest producing countries.

Global natural gas reserves amount to 206 tcm. The Russian Federation, Iran, Qatar and Turkmenistan together hold more than half of the world's natural gas reserves.

Regional distribution of total natural gas potential 2020 (without aquifer gas and gas hydrates)Regional distribution of total natural gas potential 2020 (without aquifer gas and gas hydrates) Source: BGR

For the first time in history, more natural gas was traded inter-regionally by tanker in the form of LNG (52 %) than by pipeline transport in 2020. This underlines the growing importance of LNG for international natural gas trade.

With their integrated and growing supply network, Germany and Europe are connected to a significant part of the world's natural gas reserves both via pipelines and LNG terminals.

Germany's share of global natural gas imports is around 12 %, with a large proportion of this natural gas being re-exported to neighbouring European countries. With a consumption of almost 91 bcm, Germany is the eighth largest consumer in the world.

BGR collects and evaluates comprehensive information on the worldwide distribution and availability of natural gas.


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