The next wave of liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply will come online from 2027, later than the earlier forecast of 2025, due to project delays, TotalEnergies’ Senior Vice President for LNG Gregory Joffroy said on Tuesday.

“On the mid-term (outlook), we see some LNG projects that were due to come onstream in the coming months have been delayed. The exact start date will impact the gas balances and supplies,” Joffroy said at the Asia Gas Markets conference.

“On the long-term, it is clear that we will have a new supply wave by 2027 (through to) 2030.”

In the U.S., a shortage of skilled labour, inflation from strong wage growth and equipment shortages have pressured LNG developers and delayed some projects there, while President Joe Biden’s January pause on approvals for new LNG export projects has also created uncertainty.

Joffroy said he expects LNG demand to be higher in 2035 from current consumption levels, as utilities that are still consuming coal will switch to gas-fired power generation and with the development of renewables.

“With the development of renewables, people need a solution to resolve intermittency issues, and gas is a perfect solution.”

Source: Reuters reported by Emily Chow and Gabrielle Ng in Singapore and edited by Jacqueline Wong and Mrigank Dhaniwala