This excerpt is from a report that is available to subscribers of Stratas Advisors’ Global Hydrocarbon Supply services.

Global dry natural gas production in fourth-quarter 2016 grew to 326 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d), an increase of 1.4 Bcf/d compared to the third quarter. Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa are the main drivers of the increase. The three regions combined to produce 2.8 Bcf/d more gas in Q4 than in Q3.

NGL production in the same period grew to 10.1 million barrels per day (MMbbl/d), an increase of about 110 Mbbl/d. The North American region drove this growth.

Major Projects

Q4 saw several big projects come onstream, among them Kashagan Phase 1 in the Kazakhstan side of the Caspian Sea (953 MMcf/d), and Shaybah Phase 2 expansion in Saudi Arabia (580 MMcf/d of gas capacity). However, the initial production of those projects in Q4 only added about 530 Mb/d.

Looking ahead, more projects are expected to come on stream in first-quarter 2017, including Sonatrach’s Tinhert project onshore Algeria (850 MMcf/d of gas capacity), Petrovietnam’s Su Tu Trang Phase 1 development (200 MMcf/d gas capacity) and Kuwait Energy’s Siba gas project in Iraq (100 MMcf/d). Combined production of those Q1 starters is about 280 MMcf/d.