The MENA region is on the tip of a first-time investment boom in the gas and power sectors, according to a new IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates (IHS CERA) study
IHS has predicted that the total natural gas demand in the region will soar from 750bn c um in 2011 to 1,140bn cu m by 2030.
Making projections over the next 20 years, the study, Thirst for Growth: Outlook for Gas and Power in the Middle East and Northern Africa, assesses supply, demand and investment in the area.
Leila Benali, director for Middle East and Africa Energy and project manager of the study, said, “The political imperative comes from the need for countries in the region to develop their national economies in order to deliver a higher standard of living to what are young, increasingly urbanised and growing populations.
“At the same time, there is a growing determination of governments to invest domestically or regionally rather than outside the region, which is what they have traditionally done.”
Findings from the study claim that MENA will be the most electricity-intensive region in the world and that its current high level of power demand is expected to rise over the next two decades.
The increasing demand for natural gas and electricity in the region has led to calls for more than US$1 trillion of investment by 2030.
