The global gas system entered 2026 from a position of strength, with natural gas demand reaching a record 4202 billion m3 in 2025, an increase of 69 billion m3 or 1.7%, according to the 2026 Global Gas Report by Snam and the International Gas Union (IGU). The system has become more diversified, more flexible, and significantly more resilient to disruption – while warning that the next challenge will be ensuring that this resilience keeps pace with a rapidly changing and increasingly demanding global energy system.
The findings come as the global energy landscape faces simultaneous pressures from geopolitical disruption, growing electricity demand, extreme weather, expanding LNG trade, the rapid growth of artificial intelligence (AI) and data centres, as well as from the global gas industry’s continuing need to reduce emissions.
The Strait of Hormuz crisis of 2026 provided the most significant test of the global gas system since the energy crisis of 2022. The disruption constrained around 20% of global LNG supply, equivalent to roughly 3% of total global gas supply. Global gas production is expected to fall by 4 billion m3 (-0.1%) in 2026, with the impact on Middle East production largely offset by robust production growth in the US and other regions. Global demand is also expected to moderate downwards by 7 billion m3 (-0.2%). This would represent the first decline in supply and demand respectively since 2022. However, the impact was markedly different from 2022.
Gas prices rose but remained well below the extremes seen four years ago. TTF prices peaked above US$20/million Btu (€60/MWh), compared with more than US$70 (€227/MWh) during the 2022 crisis. This greater resilience reflects the investment made since 2022 in diversified supply, LNG capacity, regasification, storage and procurement flexibility. Alternative sources of supply were available, storage helped buffer the disruption, and buyers were able to adapt: the resilience of the global gas system was built before the Strait of Hormuz crisis arrived. To maintain this resilience, continued investment in LNG supply, regasification capacity, storage, and diversified supplier portfolios are imperative.
In 2025, the global natural gas demand increased across every region except Oceania. Residential and commercial heating accounted for the largest increase, at 32 billion m3, followed by industry at 20 billion m3 and power generation at 17 billion m3. Power remained the world's largest end-use sector, accounting for 34% of global gas demand. Asia recorded the largest regional increase, adding 25 billion m3, followed by the Middle East at 18 billion m3, and Europe at 10 billion m3. Transport was the fastest-growing sector, increasing by 9 billion m3.
The global gas production reached an all-time high of 4147 billion m3 in 2025, with North America accounting for 54 billion m3 of additional supply – more than every other growing region combined.
The US also overtook Russia to become the world's largest net gas exporter, exporting 167 billion m3 in 2025, while US LNG supplied more than half of Europe's LNG imports. If recent demand trends continue, the global gas demand could reach between 4516 – 4575 billion m3 by 2030, reinforcing the need for continued investment in production, LNG, regasification, and storage to keep pace with demand.
Energy planning, therefore, needs to account for the possibility of higher demand outcomes, particularly as data centres expansion, rising cooling requirements, and geopolitical uncertainty make future energy consumption increasingly difficult to predict. Amidst this uncertain context, gas remains essential not only as a source of energy supply, but also as a tool for system resilience, helping markets manage demand volatility, supply disruptions, and risks to reliable energy and power supply.
Global data centre capacity reached 141 GW at the end of 2025, across almost 7000 facilities, more than twice the level of five years earlier. The full pipeline could exceed 500 GW by 2030, with around 64% targeting AI. Data centres can be built in one to three years, while grid infrastructure can take 5 – 15 years to develop.
At the same time, unpredictable events can place pressure on demand, generation and infrastructure simultaneously. The result is a growing requirement for reliable dispatchable supply, grid reinforcement, and demand flexibility that gas and its infrastructure can provide.
A significant push for innovation is driving the global gas industry forward into the future as a growing number of industry players are banking on modular infrastructure, AI, and digitalisation and emission abatement. Evidence in this regard is the global exploration and production digital and AI spend which, in 2025, was of approximately US$25 billion.
Industry innovation is also building new markets in low-emission gases and carbon removals. The global biomethane capacity rose by 15% in 2025, to 16.5 billion m3, and is expected to more than quadruple capacity to 2030 (from 2020 levels). Carbon capture is also advancing. Operational capture capacity increased by 8 million tpy in 2025 – the largest annual increase since 2020 – bringing the total operational capacity to 74 million tpy. A further 19.5 million tpy reached final investment decision in 2025.
Menelaos (Mel) Ydreos, the Secretary General of the IGU, said: “The Global Gas Report 2026 tells us something important about the energy system: resilience is not accidental. It is built through investment, diversity, flexibility, and the ability to adapt. The global gas system faced a major geopolitical shock in 2026. It responded more effectively than it did four years ago because the world had invested in LNG, storage, infrastructure, and more diverse sources of supply.
“But resilience cannot be a destination. As electricity demand rises, AI and data centres expand, extreme weather places new pressures on energy systems, and the world continues to pursue emissions reduction, we need to think carefully about the energy system we are building for the future. The question is no longer simply how much energy we will need. It is whether we will have enough reliable, affordable, and increasingly low-emission energy when and where we need it.”
“Energy security cannot be taken for granted. Across the last four years, the system held together not by chance, but because of the flexibility and diversification built into it over years of investment. In this environment, natural gas continues to play a crucial role, balancing the system when renewables are unavailable, safeguarding adequacy, and underpinning security of supply. Continuing to invest in resilient, flexible as infrastructure allows the system to absorb unexpected shocks while remaining competitive,” added Snam CEO, Agostino Scornajenchi.
“The future energy system will need to be increasingly integrated. It is time to move from energy transition – as a set of separate vectors replacing one another – to energy integration, where molecules and electrons work together to deliver the most reliable and cost-effective energy system. Looking ahead to the upcoming winter, European countries will likely have to accelerate their respective gas stocks refilling, which is essential to strengthening security of supply, reducing market volatility and protecting households and businesses from further price pressures. Energy security cannot be built in times of crisis; it is developed over time through investment, infrastructure and forward-looking decisions,” he concluded.