Natural gas domestic consumption

Global gas demand increased by only 1% in 2025, declining in Russia and slowing down in China.

After its 2024 rebound, global natural gas consumption slowed down in 2025, increasing by 1% (vs. +2%/year over 2010-2019). This moderate growth is due to a 3% drop in consumption in Russia, the largest gas consumer with 12% of global gas consumption, amid lower economic growth and milder temperatures.

On the contrary, colder temperatures raised gas consumption by 2% in North America (+1% in the USA and +3% in Canada, where the power sector also helped raise gas demand). In Asia, a slowdown in China’s gas consumption (+2% after +7% in 2024 amid a slight economic slowdown), a stable demand in South Korea, and a 2% drop in Japan and India over declining demand from the power sector (and high LNG prices in India) contributed to the slowdown in the regional gas consumption (+1% after +4% in 2024); on the contrary, gas consumption continued to increase in Indonesia, Malaysia and Taiwan.

Natural gas consumption accelerated in the Middle East (+3%) amid rising domestic production, especially in Saudi Arabia (+5%) spurred by the oil-to-gas substitution trend in the power sector, and in Iran. It also rebounded by 3% in Europe after three years of decline, due to a higher demand from the power sector (reduced hydro and wind power generation) and from buildings, especially in Germany (+4%) and Türkiye (+10%). It also grew by 4% in Africa, spurred by a 7% rise in Algeria (over a 7% increase in electricity demand). On the contrary, it decreased in Latin America (-2%) - declining in Mexico and Argentina but rebounding in Brazil – and in Australia (-2%).