DOHA: Growing electricity demand from AI and ⁠data centres, together ‌with rising fuel use in Asia and European gas needs could turn an expected global liquefied natural ⁠gas supply glut into a shortage by 2030, QatarEnergy CEO Saad al-Kaabi said on Monday.

A record wave of LNG supply, coming online between 2026 and 2029, has raised ⁠concerns of a supply ​glut that could depress prices. Projects like Golden Pass LNG on the U.S. Gulf ‍Coast and Qatar's North Field Expansion are expected to contribute sizable volumes to ​the new supply.

"We always thought the market would have some kind of oversupply between 2025-2030 (and) beyond 2030 you will have a shortage," Kaabi said, adding that demand expectations have increased "mainly due to... AI and data center requirements, which are sustained power requirements as a baseload".

"If all this pans out, I think there will be a shortage, instead of an oversupply by 2030,” he ⁠told the LNG2026 conference in Doha, referring ‌also to Europe emerging as a major LNG buyer since ending Russian gas imports following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

 

(Reporting by ‌Emily Chow, ⁠Yousef Saba, and Andrew Mills in Doha; Writing by Marwa Rashad in ⁠London; Editing by Louise Heavens and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)