NEWS

From the perspective of global supply, the total supply of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) has been steadily increasing, and the position of traditional advantageous production areas remains stable. In 2018, the global supply of LPG was 313 million tons, increasing by 3.01% year-on-year. The average annual growth rate has been about 3% in the past nearly 10 years. From the perspective of geographical structure, the region with the largest supply is North America, with a total of approximately 94 million tons, accounting for 30%. Along with the rise of the shale gas revolution in the United States, the output of propane, a by-product of shale gas, has significantly increased since 2010, leading to a significant increase in the supply of LPG in North America. Next comes the Middle East region, where oil-producing countries are relatively concentrated, with an output of approximately 65 million tons, accounting for 21%. The output of the Far East (East Asia) region where our country is located is 62.6 million tons, accounting for 20%. China's output is around 26 million tons, accounting for 8% of the global total, making it the third-largest producer.

The global supply source of LPG is mainly associated gas from oil and gas fields. The main sources of global LPG supply are two channels: associated gas from oil and gas fields and by-product gas from refineries. Among them, the supply of associated gas from oil and gas fields in 2018 was 204 million tons, accounting for 65.2%, which was the main source. The by-product gas from the refinery was 109 million tons, accounting for 34.8%. Since 2010, along with the large-scale development of shale gas in the United States, the supply proportion of associated gas from oil and gas fields has shown an upward trend, rising from 59.2% in 2010 to 65.2% in 2018. The proportion of by-product gas from refineries has shown a continuous downward trend, dropping from 40.8% in 2010 to 34.8% in 2017.

From the perspectives of demand and consumption, the global demand for liquefied petroleum gas is showing a stable growth trend. The global demand for liquefied petroleum gas was approximately 226 million tons in 2008 and reached 248 million tons in 2010. The continuous expansion of the scale of natural gas pipeline transportation and intercontinental transportation of liquefied natural gas has suppressed the demand for some liquefied petroleum gas. The overall demand remained at around 250 million tons from 2010 to 2013. With the global economic recovery, especially the rise of deep processing (chemical utilization) projects of liquefied petroleum gas in Asia, liquefied petroleum gas has generally shown a rapid growth trend since 2014. In 2018, the consumption of liquefied petroleum gas had reached 303 million tons, an increase of approximately 34% compared with 2008. The demand for liquefied petroleum gas is expected to continue to increase in the future, forming a growth trend with equal emphasis on fuel and chemical uses.

The main consumption regions of global liquefied petroleum gas are concentrated in Asia. In 2018, the region with the largest consumption of liquefied petroleum gas was East Asia, with a consumption of 72 million tons, accounting for approximately 23.8% of the global LPG consumption.

From the perspective of consumption structure, the consumption of liquefied petroleum gas is mainly for fuel purposes. Liquefied petroleum gas can be generally classified into fuel and chemical uses, and the fuel use can be further divided into civil, industrial, automotive and other uses. In 2018, the global consumption of LPG fuel exceeded 200 million tons, accounting for 70%. Among them, civil fuel accounted for 48.14%, industrial fuel accounted for 6.7%, and automotive fuel accounted for 8.09%. In terms of chemical applications, in 2018, the global consumption of LPG as a chemical raw material was 91 million tons, accounting for approximately 30% of the global consumption. Among them, the proportion of chemical consumption in the United States is 52%, in Canada it is 2.6%, in Japan it is 25.5%, and in South Korea it is 34.8%.