New Delhi: European gas demand is expected to keep rising over the next five years, after three consecutive years of growth, as economies continue to recover, coal and nuclear plants go offline, the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies said.Natural gas demand reached 548 billion cubic metres (bcm) last year, up 5 percent from 2016 and the third growth year in a row after a period of decline from 2010 to 2014, the OEIS estimates in a report published on Tuesday.
The growth was prompted by colder-than-average temperatures in Jan. 2017, continued economic recovery and an increase in the use of gas as a fuel in power generation due to coal plant closures and moves to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
All these drivers are likely to continue to play an important role in the short term, which is here defined as the next five years," the report said.