The surging worldwide demand is fuelled primarily by the economic growth in China, which has surpassed Japan as the world's largest consumer after the US and will need more than 10 million barrels of crude oil a day by 2030 from about 6.3 million barrels per day as reported by the International Energy Agency.
While the worldwide demand for oil continues, Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) will play a bigger role, which according to the US Minerals MANAGEMENT Service Director has sharply increased in the past decade because natural gas is a clean burning fuel source.
In fact, the demand for gas is projected to exceed the demand for oil by 2020, with LNG needs in China will reach 20 million tonnes annually by 2015, and demand in India touching 12.5 million in the same period.
Japan is expected to be the major LNG importer in the region with 73 million tonnes of import in 2015, while the United States and South America should also emerge as major importers by then.
This shows that the market demand for natural gas or LNG should rise very dramatically in the next 10 years or so years to come. Indeed Brunei has already exported its LNG to South Korea and Japan for over a decade, and the strong global demand could mean big demand for Brunei LNG.
Recently Brunei marketed its petroleum to China and India, among others - meaning that the Sultanate already has a foothold in the major energy markets of the future.