Milton Financials: IEA says the global natural gas glut threatens renewables investment.

Leading oil firms are changing their focus toward natural gas production as oil reserves become increasingly inaccessible.

The International Energy Agency has informed Milton Financials that the current gas glut, which is expected to last for around a decade is going to act as a “major barrier” to the development of renewable energy, cleaner burning coal power plants and nuclear energy.

The agency said that the “golden age of gas” would lead to lower gas prices for consumers, primarily in Europe and would also lead to a rush to build gas-fired power plants at the expense of cleaner forms of electricity generation.

Chief economist for the IEA, Fatih Birol also pointed out that some of the top oil firms including Royal Dutch Shell and Exxon-Mobil were undergoing an “identity crisis” as they find themselves increasingly blocked from further development in areas such as the Middle East where most of the globes remaining oil reserves lie. These oil giants are repositioning themselves as gas producers, which firms such as Shell are promoting as a cleaner form of energy. "In terms of climate change, gas is definitely a good solution compared to coal and oil. But it's not very innocent compared to renewables and nuclear," Birol told Milton Financials.

Recent technical advances have led to a global excess in natural gas as exploration and extraction has now become possible in previously untapped shale gas, coal bed methane and tight gas deposits, most of which are found in the U.S., China and Australia. The IEA’s latest world energy outlook indicates that 35%of the increase in global gas production will come from these new sources, Milton Financials has learned.

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This release was published on openPR.