Documentation > Oil, gas, coal, and friends > Gas and co > Have you seen any gas peak somewhere ?
Want gas ? Don't worry, we have 70 year of consumption ahead ! Actually this statement is as misleading as it is for oil: as for oil, on historical times we can consider that gas comes from a stock that has been formed once and for all, and therefore it will obey the same mathematics than oil. Its production started at zero, will go through a maximum, and then will decline, and this conclusion is valid for any given country or province.
However, as gas production is more recent than oil production, one might expect that there are less places that have already passed their peaks, and it is well the case. Actually Europe concentrates most of the countries that are obviously post-peak. In other regions, there are some countries for which the question arises, but there is no clear answer at this stage.
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Europe
In Europe, all countries but one - Norway - are post-peak.
 Gas production of United Kingdom. Peak in 2000. Source: BP Statistical Review, 2012
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 Gas production of Italy. Peak in 1994. Source: BP Statistical Review, 2012
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 Gas production of Romania. Peak in 1982. Source: BP Statistical Review, 2012
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 Gas production of Germany. Peak in 1979. Source: BP Statistical Review, 2012
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 Gas production of Netherlands. Peak in 1977. Source: BP Statistical Review, 2012
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 Gas production of Denmark. Peak in 2005. Source: BP Statistical Review, 2012
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The global production of Europe is declining rapidly. The European Union produces roughly 30% of the gaz it consumes, but this percentage rises to 60% when including Norway.
 Gas production of the European Union. Peak in 1996. Source: BP Statistical Review, 2012
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Former Soviet Union
Russia, once first and now second world producer, is on a kind of plateau since 1990. Ukraine is post-peak, Turkmenistanmight be, but some other countries are rising fast, so the zone is more or less rising.
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Gas production of the former Soviet Union. Source: BP Statistical Review, 2012***
Far East
The main producer of the zone is China, followed by Indonesia and Malaysia (which is in slight decline since 2008, but no conclusion can be drawn at this point). A marginalproducer New Zeland) seems post-peak.
 Gas production of New Zealand. Peak in 2001. Source: BP Statistical Review, 2010
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But globally the zone is rising.
 Gas production of the Far East. Source: BP Statistical Review, 2012
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Middle East
Middle East, the dominant province regarding oil, does not rank the same regarding gas. No major producer seems to be post-peak, even though the case of Irak is intriging.
 Gas production of Irak. Peak in 1978 ? Source: BP Statistical Review, 2012
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The zone is globally rising fast.
 Gas production of Middle East. Source: BP Statistical Review, 2012
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Africa
In this zone, production was rising until recently, but no conclusion can be drawn at this point.
 Gas production of Africa. Source: BP Statistical Review, 2012
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South and Central America
In this zone, all producers are rising, except Argentina.
 Gas production of Argentina. Peak in 2006 ? Source: BP Statistical Review, 2012
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The production of the one is also rising.
 Gas production of South America. Source: BP Statistical Review, 2012
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Northern America
The US - now first producer in front of Russia - had passed its peak on conventional gas along with the peak on oil, but the fast rise of non conventional gas has reverted the decline.
 Gas production in the US. The rise of non conventional begun as late as... in the seventies. Source: BP Statistical Review, 2012
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 Gas production of Canada. Peak in 2006 ? Source: BP Statistical Review, 2012
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As the US dominate the regional production - with 3/4 of the total - growth is here too.
 Gas production of North America. Source: BP Statistical Review, 2012
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We see that the only region which is in decline is Europe. At the world level, the peak for gas production is expected 10 to 30 years after the maximum for oil production. But there will be such a maximum, it's certain !