Five-year gas demand projections revised downward

It was becoming increasingly difficult for natural gas to compete amid the availability of “very cheap” coal and the falling costs of renewable energy, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Thursday as it revised its five-year forecast for gas demand downward. The agency, which initially believed that lower gas prices would drive demand following a marked slowdown in 2013 and 2014, now expected the average growth in demand for global natural gas over the next five years to contract from 2.3% a year to 2%.