Editor’s Note: This column is part of a regular series by industry veteran Brad Hitch for NGI’s LNG Insight dedicated to addressing the complexities of the global natural gas market.

Asian natural gas consumption is the foundation upon which the LNG industry has been built.  

Asian countries were importing more than 71% of global liquefied natural gas volumes at the start of this decade, matching the 70% share held by Asian importers at the turn of the century.

Outside of total market share, however, there isn’t much in the Asian demand picture that is different from the start of the century.

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Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, which were the...