{"id":59213,"date":"2025-11-26T12:48:46","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T09:48:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/shorts\/leaders-in-natural-gas-production-in-the-world-who-controls-the-market-today\/"},"modified":"2025-11-26T12:48:46","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T09:48:46","slug":"leaders-in-natural-gas-production-in-the-world-who-controls-the-market-today","status":"publish","type":"shorts","link":"https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/en\/shorts\/leaders-in-natural-gas-production-in-the-world-who-controls-the-market-today\/","title":{"rendered":"Leaders in natural gas production in the world: who controls the market today"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Every year more rises from the depths 4<\/a> trillion cubic meters of gas – enough to fill Europe’s underground storage facilities 36 times. Almost half of the produced fuel is in the hands of the United States, Russia, China and Iran. In this article, we explain why the world’s production leaders keep the gas market under control – thanks to large reserves, modern technologies and long-term contracts – and what can change the situation.<\/p>\n\n\n

Top 10 leading countries in gas production<\/h2>\n\n\n

In 2024, global gas production reached a new maximum of 1,2%<\/a> – not much at first glance, but in reality this is plus tens of billions of cubic meters. Fuel remains in demand despite the craving for \u201cgreen\u201d energy: if in 1980 all countries in the world pumped out 1.46 trillion m\u00b3<\/a> gas, today it is three times more. The main growth occurred in North America and the Middle East. For example, in the USA, more than 40%<\/a> electricity, while growing<\/a> demand for blue fuel in industry (chemistry, fertilizer production, metallurgy).<\/p>\n\n\n

The top 10 includes leading countries in natural gas production, which supply more fuel to the market than others. The USA retained first place and raised 1092 billion m\u00b3 from the depths – this is the highest figure in the history of the country. Russia retained second position: about 706 billion m\u00b3, adding about 7% to the 2023 figures.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n

China, with its 293 billion m\u00b3, gained a foothold in the top 5 thanks to stable growth in domestic demand and production in new provinces. At the same time, it slightly overtook Iran, which in 2024 updated its historical maximum (285 billion m\u00b3).<\/p>\n\n\n

The remaining leading countries in gas production provided a significant share of global supplies, especially against the backdrop of growing consumption in the Asia-Pacific region (APR). Over the past ten years, these countries have begun to spend approximately by a quarter<\/a> more energy than before and now accounts for about 50% of total global demand. Contracts with India, South Korea and China (the largest consumers after the USA) influenced<\/a> on the directions of LNG and pipeline gas supplies in 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n

To understand who is gaining ground and who is losing ground, it is important to understand what is behind the leadership of each country: technology, resources or export infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n

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\"Map<\/a>
Top 10 gas producers in 2024. Sources: Enerdata<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n

Why are some countries leaders in oil and gas production, while others are not?<\/h2>\n\n\n

Leaders in gas production hold on<\/a> at the top thanks to different development models. USA<\/strong> relied on technology. The Barnett, Haynesville, Utica, and Permian shale fields have provided the country with more than 70% of the increase in production over the past ten years. Horizontal drilling and high speed of launching new wells (from two to four weeks<\/a> compared to complex offshore projects that can take up to a year to prepare) allow US companies to respond instantly to prices and keep production above 1 trillion m\u00b3 per year.<\/p>\n\n\n

Countries with the largest reserves have a different logic. Their advantage lies in the scale of the resource base. On the territory Iran <\/strong>about 17% of the world’s proven reserves are concentrated (34<\/a> trillion m\u00b3), in Russia<\/strong> – even more (63,5<\/a> trillion m\u00b3). Thanks to this, countries pump out large volumes of fuel despite sanctions. Thus, in 2024, Russia increased production and compensated for the decline in exports by increasing supplies to industry and the population within the country, as well as launching large LNG projects in Yamal and other Arctic regions.<\/p>\n\n\n

Qatar and Australia<\/strong> They follow the third path – they rely on the LNG infrastructure. Qatar ranks third in the world in gas reserves (approx. 24<\/a> trillion m\u00b3). It is actively expanding the capacity of the North field and plans to increase LNG exports by 40% by the end of the 2020s. Australia is betting on offshore and contracts with Japan and South Korea, remaining one of the three largest LNG exporters in the world. For both countries, export terminals and logistics are important, and not how many cubic meters of gas they themselves consume. LNG is advantageous in that it can be quickly sent by tankers to any market, and the volume during liquefaction is reduced by 600<\/a> once.<\/p>\n\n\n

As a result, the leaders in gas production in the world are those who know how to combine three pillars – technology, resources and export infrastructure. If one of them fails, the country begins to lose share. This is already noticeable in Libya and Algeria, Norway and Great Britain, where old deposits are being depleted faster than they appear new projects<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n

In the 20th century everything depended on oil and gas, and in the 21st century there is a reliance on rare earth metals – will Russia find \u201cArctic treasures\u201d, read <\/em><\/strong>in our article<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n

Russia is among the leading countries in natural gas production<\/h2>\n\n\n

To remain in the top 3 leading countries in gas production, it is important not only to have large reserves, but also develop<\/a> new directions. Now Russia:<\/p>\n\n\n