However, its most profound consequence has been to open a new stage in the organization of the global gas market, where energy security, logistics, and the climate transition are increasingly intertwined. The recent history of natural gas suggests that the new economic cycle will be marked not only by technological innovation but also by the reorganization of the infrastructure that supports the global economy. Unlike oil, which could be transported with relative ease by ship and traded on global markets, gas depended mainly on pipelines connecting producers and consumers within specific geographical areas. This characteristic conditioned geopolitics for decades. The abundance of natural gas in the United States allowed for the development of large export terminals on the east coast, making it one of the main suppliers to the global market. This structural shift acquired a more evident geopolitical dimension starting in 2022. For decades, a large part of the gas supply to Europe depended on pipelines connecting Russian fields with European markets. Gas power plants can increase or reduce their production with relative speed, allowing them to balance electrical grids where solar and wind energy have an increasing share. For this reason, several analysts consider that natural gas can play an intermediate role during the decarbonization process, progressively replacing coal while other low-carbon energy sources expand. However, this transitional role also generates debate. Beyond its role as a fuel, gas has become a key element of energy security. The flexibility of LNG now allows for the redistribution of supply between different regions of the world more quickly than in the past. Although pipelines remain a fundamental infrastructure, maritime trade has introduced greater flexibility into the global energy system. At the same time, natural gas also plays a relevant role within the energy transition. In many electrical systems, gas is used as backup for renewable generation. According to estimates from the International Energy Agency, global consumption of natural gas exceeds 4 trillion cubic meters per year, making it one of the main energy sources on the planet. Two parallel processes have driven this transformation. The first was the shale revolution in the United States, which turned the country into the world's largest producer of natural gas. Methane emissions associated with the production and transportation of natural gas, as well as investment in long-term fossil infrastructure, raise questions about the pace and direction of the global energy transition. The evolution of the gas market ultimately reflects a broader transformation of the global energy system. According to estimates from the International Energy Agency, European imports of Russian gas were reduced by more than 80% between 2021 and 2023. In response, European countries accelerated the construction of LNG terminals, expanded their regasification capacity, and diversified their suppliers. The United States became one of the main gas suppliers to the European market. This process highlighted a central characteristic of natural gas in the current energy system. North America, for its part, operated as a relatively integrated energy system between the United States, Canada, and Mexico based on an extensive pipeline network. However, in the last fifteen years, this structure began to transform deeply. For much of the 20th century, natural gas was essentially a regional fuel. Today, natural gas holds a central place within the global energy system. Upon reaching its destination, the gas can be regasified and incorporated into distribution networks. This process has profoundly transformed international gas trade. Energy is no longer organized only around natural resources, but also around infrastructure, technology, and logistics chains that determine how those resources can move and be used. In that context, natural gas has become one of the pillars of the new global energy map. The country possesses about 13% of the world's natural gas reserves and is one of the largest LNG exporters in the world (~20% of the global volume). The second was the accelerated expansion of liquefied natural gas (LNG) trade. LNG allows natural gas to be cooled to approximately -162 °C, significantly reducing its volume and allowing it to be transported by ship over long distances. Qatar, in particular, occupies a strategic position in the global gas market. Asia, in turn, secured its supply mainly from long-term LNG contracts. A large part of its production is directed to Asia—especially Japan, South Korea, China, and India—through long-term supply contracts, although in recent years it has also increased its agreements with European countries in search of diversifying its energy supply sources. In this sense, the outlook points to an even greater expansion of LNG: according to the World Energy Outlook, global LNG export capacity could increase by about 50% by 2030, driven mainly by new projects in the United States, Qatar, and other emerging producers. The expansion of LNG has been closely linked to the shale revolution. Energy relations were structured around large fixed infrastructure systems. Its production, transportation, and trade illustrate how technological innovation, geopolitics, and the energy transition interact to redefine the functioning of the energy system. The shale revolution was the starting point of this process. Europe depended heavily on Russian gas transported by pipelines. International sanctions, political tensions, and forced supply disruption forced Europe to quickly reorganize its energy strategy. According to the International Energy Agency, global LNG trade exceeded 420 million tons annually in 2024, more than double the volume recorded in the mid-2000s, when global trade barely exceeded 180 million tons. Countries like Qatar, Australia, and the United States have become major LNG exporters. Infrastructures like Nord Stream symbolized that model of energy integration. The war between Russia and Ukraine profoundly altered that system. *The author is Secretary of Administration and Finance of Mexico City.
