With more and more nations getting more environment conscious, it is not surprising that many had resorted to use either renewable energy or clean energy to fuel their respective energy requirements. A number of nations, such as China, India and South Korea have been importing liquefied natural gas (LNG) by millions of tonnes to meet domestic demand.

In the latest "Global LNG Market Short and Long Term Outlook: Trends, Drivers and Forecasts of Supply, Demand, Capacity, Trade and Contracts to 2020" by Research and Markets, it said the current supply surplus in the LNG sector will hit the wall in 2014, where demand will exceed supply by 75 million tonnes.

The recent closure of Japan's nuclear power plants as well as nuclear phase out by the European markets will drive the LNG demand in the short term, the report said.

Japan, the UK, China, France and South Korea drove global LNG demand to rise to 248.5 million tonnes in 2011.

Research and Markets said the global demand-supply of LNG will balance to stand at 75 million tonnes in 2020 since 28 new LNG plants are expected to go online by 2014.

Unfortunately, most of these projects have been delayed due to lack of investment and skilled labor, thus the reason for the current low demand for LNG. Most of the African and Australasian projects have been delayed by one to two years, the report said.

The report revealed some 17 new markets will enter the global LNG trade by 2020.

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