In the first half of the year, the demand for re-stocking in Europe drove the growth of global LNG trade.

Due to the impact of the cold winter in the first quarter, the demand for European gas storage has increased, leading to an increase in international liquefied natural gas trade volume in the first half of this year. "However, this increase is still at a historical low, due to the substitution of renewable energy and the continued high gas prices suppressing market activity. It is expected that the global LNG trade in the second half of the year will continue the basic supply-demand pattern of the past two years, but considering the impact of unknown factors such as weather and geopolitics, the global LNG market supply and demand may still remain in a tight balance." Regarding the international LNG trade situation in the first half of the year and the outlook for the second half of the year, international energy analysis firm gas analyst Julie told reporters. According to Kpler's global shipping data, the global LNG trade volume in the first half of this year was 2.1 billion tons, a year-on-year increase of 1.24%. Global trade volume is still expanding, but this growth rate is only slightly higher than 2024 in the past decade. Specifically from the perspective of supply and demand fundamentals and price trends, in the first half of this year, global LNG liquefaction capacity has been put into operation faster, and due to the increase in the proportion of US supply, the top supply performers in the global LNG market are more concentrated.