The overall value of petroleum gas exports rose by an average 54.5% for all exporting countries since 2017 when petroleum gas shipments were valued at $242.5 billion. From 2020 to 2021, petroleum gas exported worldwide appreciated by 65.1%.
The 5 biggest exporters of petroleum gas in 2021 (United States of America, Norway, Australia, Qatar and Canada) sold almost three-fifths (57.9%) of globally shipped petroleum gas.
About one-fifth (20.3%) of worldwide petroleum gas exports were supplied by member countries of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries compared to roughly one-third during 2020. OPEC is an intergovernmental entity comprised of 13 countries.
Switching to a continental perspective, countries in Europe sold the highest dollar worth of exported petroleum gas during 2021 with shipments valued at $108.7 billion or 29% of the global total. Slowing to second place for 2021 were Asian exporters (including the Middle East) collecting a 27.1% share. Shippers in North America supplied another 22.1% while Oceania led by Australia and Papua New Guinea accounted for 11.4%.
Smaller percentages came from Africa (8.3%) and Latin America (2%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean.
For research purposes, the 4-digit Harmonized Tariff System code prefix is 2711 for petroleum gas and other gaseous hydrocarbons.
Petroleum Gas Exports by Country
Below are the 15 countries that exported the highest dollar value worth of petroleum gas during 2021.
- United States: US$67.6 billion (18% of exported petroleum gas)
- Norway: $58 billion (15.5%)
- Australia: $37.98 billion (10.1%)
- Qatar: $37.97 billion (10.1%)
- Canada: $15.3 billion (4.1%)
- Germany: $14.18 billion (3.8%)
- Algeria: $14.15 billion (3.8%)
- Belgium: $11.8 billion (3.2%)
- United Arab Emirates: $10.1 billion (2.7%)
- Malaysia: $9.9 billion (2.7%)
- Russia: $8.8 billion (2.4%)
- Indonesia: $7.5 billion (2%)
- Oman: $7.2 billion (1.9%)
- Turkmenistan: $6.3 billion (1.7%)
- Nigeria: $5.9 billion (1.6%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 83.5% of global petroleum gas exported in 2021.
Among the top 4 petroleum gas exporters posted triple-digit gains compared to 2020. The leading gainers were Belgium (up 400.8%), Norway (up 322.9%), Canada (up 117%) and the United States of America (up 104%).
One top supplier country posted a decline in its global petroleum gas sales namely the United Arab Emirates thanks to its -50.8% slowdown.
Export Countries Enjoying Greatest Trade Surpluses for Petroleum Gas
The following countries posted the highest positive net exports for petroleum gas during 2021. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports. Thus, the statistics below present the surplus between the value of each country’s exported petroleum gas and its import purchases for that same commodity.
- Norway: US$57.9 billion (net export surplus up 323% since 2020)
- United States of America: $53.3 billion (up 107.9%)
- Qatar: $38 billion (up 8.8%)
- Australia: $37.8 billion (up 38.9%)
- Algeria: $14.1 billion (up 66.3%)
- Canada: $12.6 billion (up 137.1%)
- United Arab Emirates: $10 billion (down -39.5%)
- Malaysia: $9.1 billion (up 55.3%)
- Russia: $8.7 billion (up 11.5%)
- Oman: $7.2 billion (up 49.2%)
- Turkmenistan: $6.3 billion (up 3.2%)
- Nigeria: $5.8 billion (up 38.2%)
- Azerbaijan: $5.5 billion (up 152.9%)
- Papua New Guinea: $4.6 billion (up 38%)
- Angola: $3.6 billion (up 245.2%)
Overtaking Qatar, Norway generated the highest surplus in the international trade of petroleum gas in 2021. In turn, this positive cashflow confirms Norway’s leading competitive advantage for this specific product category.
Export Countries Incurring Biggest Trade Deficits for Petroleum Gas
The following countries posted the highest negative net exports for petroleum gas during 2021. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports. Thus, the statistics below present the deficit between the value of each country’s imported petroleum gas purchases and its exports for that same commodity.
- Mainland China: -US$59.7 billion (net export deficit up 49.2% since 2020)
- Japan: -$45.6 billion (up 33.7%)
- Germany: -$33.2 billion (up 137.5%)
- South Korea: -$30.2 billion (up 63.4%)
- India: -$23.6 billion (up 57.5%)
- United Kingdom: -$22.2 billion (up 404.3%)
- Italy: -$17 billion (up 54.7%)
- France: -$16.9 billion (up 159.9%)
- Mexico: -$15.8 billion (up 136.5%)
- Taiwan: -$11.4 billion (up 88.1%)
- Spain: -$10.1 billion (up 86.4%)
- Belgium: -$8.7 billion (up 227.5%)
- Brazil: -$5.9 billion (up 241.5%)
- Thailand: -$5.7 billion (up 44.2%)
- Singapore: -$4.9 billion (up 69.9%)
Mainland China displayed a competitive disadvantage for this specific product category. In turn, that strategic weakness signals opportunities for petroleum gas-exporting countries that help satisfy the powerful product demand from Chinese businesses and consumers.
Petroleum Gas Exporting Companies
Below are global petroleum gas firms that represent established players engaged in the international petroleum gas trade. Their home country is shown within parenthesis.
- Bayerngas Norge (Norway)
- Enbridge (Canada)
- GAZPROM Germania GmbH (Germany)
- Lukoil (Russia)
- Origin Energy (Australia)
- Southern Gas Company (United States)
Searchable List of Petroleum Gas Exporting Countries in 2021
The 100 key exporters in the document database below generated 99.97% of worldwide petroleum gas shipments by value.
| Rank | Exporter | Gas Exports (US$) | 2020-1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | United States | $67,615,740,000 | +104% |
| 2. | Norway | $58,006,823,000 | +322.9% |
| 3. | Australia | $37,976,526,000 | +38.9% |
| 4. | Qatar | $37,966,384,000 | +8.8% |
| 5. | Canada | $15,303,455,000 | +117% |
| 6. | Germany | $14,183,753,000 | +47.3% |
| 7. | Algeria | $14,153,448,000 | +65.2% |
| 8. | Belgium | $11,814,056,000 | +400.8% |
| 9. | United Arab Emirates | $10,076,428,000 | -50.8% |
| 10. | Malaysia | $9,942,726,000 | +34.5% |
| 11. | Russia | $8,815,377,000 | +12.4% |
| 12. | Indonesia | $7,483,003,000 | +37.2% |
| 13. | Oman | $7,169,520,000 | +45.2% |
| 14. | Turkmenistan | $6,257,926,000 | +3.2% |
| 15. | Nigeria | $5,870,693,000 | +36.6% |
| 16. | Azerbaijan | $5,557,150,000 | +153.1% |
| 17. | Papua New Guinea | $4,568,581,000 | +38% |
| 18. | United Kingdom | $4,565,700,000 | +182.3% |
| 19. | Egypt | $4,036,965,000 | +711.4% |
| 20. | Angola | $3,604,836,000 | +246.1% |
| 21. | Brunei Darussalam | $3,332,525,000 | +36.9% |
| 22. | Myanmar | $3,013,147,000 | -10.5% |
| 23. | France | $2,966,577,000 | +75.1% |
| 24. | Kuwait | $2,746,401,000 | +50.6% |
| 25. | Trinidad/Tobago | $2,532,296,000 | +408.5% |
| 26. | Bolivia | $2,305,660,000 | +14.8% |
| 27. | China | $2,177,676,000 | +7% |
| 28. | Netherlands | $1,830,278,000 | +167.4% |
| 29. | Kazakhstan | $1,818,244,000 | -26.3% |
| 30. | Peru | $1,705,955,000 | +221.2% |
| 31. | Equatorial Guinea | $1,401,926,000 | +134.1% |
| 32. | Spain | $1,272,672,000 | +291.5% |
| 33. | Hungary | $1,178,000,000 | +104.6% |
| 34. | Libya | $978,009,000 | +15.2% |
| 35. | Singapore | $799,971,000 | +124.2% |
| 36. | Uzbekistan | $717,324,000 | +50% |
| 37. | Cameroon | $634,589,000 | +138.9% |
| 38. | South Korea | $606,892,000 | +44.6% |
| 39. | Sweden | $584,082,000 | +103.6% |
| 40. | Argentina | $524,036,000 | +62% |
| 41. | Iran | $477,598,000 | 0% |
| 42. | Italy | $446,297,000 | +189.9% |
| 43. | Greece | $419,807,000 | +87.4% |
| 44. | India | $408,536,000 | +70.3% |
| 45. | Croatia | $390,506,000 | +613.3% |
| 46. | Romania | $390,145,000 | +418% |
| 47. | Bulgaria | $321,780,000 | +995% |
| 48. | Latvia | $294,100,000 | +265.8% |
| 49. | Mozambique | $292,835,000 | +27% |
| 50. | Turkey | $227,961,000 | +111.2% |
| 51. | Thailand | $227,882,000 | +61.2% |
| 52. | Portugal | $210,916,000 | +114.1% |
| 53. | Estonia | $190,310,000 | +553.3% |
| 54. | Poland | $174,196,000 | +69.2% |
| 55. | Vietnam | $173,004,000 | +48.9% |
| 56. | Bahrain | $150,199,000 | +7509850% |
| 57. | El Salvador | $137,445,000 | +105.8% |
| 58. | Lithuania | $134,305,000 | +68.9% |
| 59. | Japan | $127,938,000 | +27.9% |
| 60. | Chile | $122,781,000 | +75.5% |
| 61. | Iraq | $117,304,000 | +135.6% |
| 62. | Dominican Republic | $106,303,000 | +1078% |
| 63. | Czech Republic | $102,787,000 | -48.2% |
| 64. | Finland | $100,744,000 | +93% |
| 65. | South Africa | $100,222,000 | +47% |
| 66. | Guatemala | $80,501,000 | +63.9% |
| 67. | Timor-Leste | $65,984,000 | +283.1% |
| 68. | Austria | $59,793,000 | +110.3% |
| 69. | Slovakia | $53,313,000 | +14.7% |
| 70. | Ukraine | $51,369,000 | +610.6% |
| 71. | Brazil | $35,707,000 | +39% |
| 72. | Tunisia | $31,125,000 | +185.2% |
| 73. | Serbia | $29,904,000 | +32.1% |
| 74. | Ireland | $23,936,000 | +40.2% |
| 75. | Ghana | $23,522,000 | -6.2% |
| 76. | Guinea-Bissau | $22,112,000 | 0% |
| 77. | Cayman Islands | $17,122,000 | +356% |
| 78. | Mexico | $16,584,000 | +60.3% |
| 79. | Tanzania | $16,494,000 | +33.9% |
| 80. | Albania | $16,296,000 | +152.5% |
| 81. | Slovenia | $14,831,000 | -48.7% |
| 82. | Congo | $12,655,000 | -76.7% |
| 83. | Philippines | $12,215,000 | +162.3% |
| 84. | Guinea | $11,115,000 | -73.5% |
| 85. | Bahamas | $9,417,000 | 0% |
| 86. | Switzerland | $8,418,000 | +0.7% |
| 87. | Senegal | $6,261,000 | +110% |
| 88. | Panama | $5,354,000 | +1913% |
| 89. | Jamaica | $5,003,000 | 0% |
| 90. | New Zealand | $4,373,000 | -6.7% |
| 91. | Taiwan | $3,087,000 | -83.6% |
| 92. | Cabo Verde | $2,993,000 | 0% |
| 93. | North Macedonia | $2,773,000 | -9.2% |
| 94. | Tonga | $2,635,000 | 0% |
| 95. | Uruguay | $2,287,000 | +628.3% |
| 96. | Eswatini | $2,188,000 | 0% |
| 97. | Antigua/Barbuda | $2,037,000 | 0% |
| 98. | Sierra Leone | $1,639,000 | 0% |
| 99. | Lebanon | $1,348,000 | +2651% |
| 100. | Kyrgyzstan | $1,282,000 | +3461% |
You can change the presentation order by clicking the triangle icon at the top of the columns. An entry of 0% in the right-most column means no 2020 data was available at time of article publication.
Fastest-growth among the 100 major exporters of petroleum gas from 2020 to 2021 belongs to: Bahrain (up 7,509,850%), Kyrgyzstan (up 3,461%), Lebanon (up 2,651%), Panama (up 1,913%), Dominica Republic (up 1,078%), Bulgaria (up 995%) then Egypt (up 711.4%).
See also Crude Oil Exports by Country, Crude Oil Imports by Country, Refined Oil Exports by Country and Electricity Exports by Country
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Field Listing: Exports – Commodities. Accessed on May 28, 2022
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on May 28, 2022
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on May 28, 2022
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on May 28, 2022
Wikipedia, Category:Natural gas companies by country. Accessed on May 28, 2022
