Shell, Europe’s largest energy company, forecast on Wednesday that global demand for liquefied natural gas, which has been a lifeline for Europe after Russia cut off pipeline gas supplies, will surge by around 50 percent over the next 15 years.
The main source of growth is expected to be in China, which will switch from coal to gas in industry to cut emissions, Shell said.
The fuel, which is chilled to minus 260 degrees Fahrenheit and transported on specialized ships, has become a significant moneymaker for Shell as part of a unit that earned $7 billion last year. But it has also been a focus of criticism from some environmental groups as a source of greenhouse-gas emissions, especially methane.
The Biden administration recently put a temporary halt on approving new L.N.G. projects in the United States, which has become the world’s largest exporter of the fuel, in part to take time to assess the industry’s environmental impact.
In an interview, Steve Hill, executive vice president of Shell Energy, the unit that includes L.N.G., indicated that much of Shell’s optimism about this key business for the company rested on Asia and particularly China. In 2023, that country led the world in growth in L.N.G. imports after a drop in 2022, when a surge in European demand drove up prices for the fuel.
Mr. Hill said that China was rapidly building infrastructure to increase imports. Liquefied natural gas requires specialized terminals to unload the cargoes as well as storage facilities for the gas. “We see China as being particularly important” over the next decade, he said.
