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Article: Natural Gas: Middle East Reserves of Natural Gas
- Article from:
- Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 The Gale Group, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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NATURAL GAS: MIDDLE EAST RESERVES OF NATURAL GAS
the middle east holds 36 percent of the world reserves of natural gas but generates only 9.3 percent of world production.
Natural gas must be transported by pipeline or liquefied by refrigeration in the form of liquid natural gas and transported on specially built ships. The liquefaction process is substantially more expensive. But since the main demand for gas from the Gulf has come from users in the Far East, Europe, and the United States, liquefaction has been the only option and has made the production of the main Gulf gas fields less competitive. Gas from Algeria
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because it can be piped under the Mediterranean
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has ...