據彭博新聞社2021年7月13日報道，由于石油資源豐富的波斯灣國家加快努力，逐步擺脫對原油的依賴，轉而使用更清潔的能源，科威特近日啟用了本國首個進口液化天然氣（LNG）的永久性設施。

　　據科威特國家通訊社Kuna報道，祖爾LNG進口終端7月12日收到了來自卡塔爾的第一批LNG貨物。

　　這個距離科威特與沙特阿拉伯接壤邊境約10英里的終端每年計劃進口多達2200萬噸這種超冷天然氣，輕而易舉地成為中東同類LNG進口終端中最大的一個。

　　彭博新能源財經(BloombergNEF)液化天然氣分析師Abhishek Rohatgi在一份報告中表示：“由于計劃逐步淘汰價值10吉瓦的煉油廠，科威特電力部門的天然氣需求將上升。”“天然氣需求的增長很可能會超過侏羅紀氣田的國內產量增長，從而增加LNG進口量。”

　　彭博社預計，到2025年前，中東地區的LNG使用量將增加近50%，其中大部分增長將來自科威特。

　　李峻 編譯自 彭博社

　　原文如下：

　　Kuwait opens first LNG import facility in push for greener electricity

　　Kuwait has opened its first permanent facility to import liquefied natural gas, as oil-rich Persian Gulf states accelerate efforts to wean their power plants off crude and use cleaner forms of energy.

　　The Al Zour LNG terminal received its first cargo of gas, from Qatar, on Monday, according to state news agency Kuna.

　　The plant, roughly 10 miles from Kuwait’s border with Saudi Arabia, is designed to import as much as 22 million tons of the super-chilled gas each year, making it easily the largest of its kind in the Middle East.

　　“Gas demand in Kuwait is set to rise in the power sector due to the planned phase-out of oil plants worth 10 gigawatts,” Abhishek Rohatgi, an LNG analyst at BloombergNEF, said in a note. “Gas-demand growth is likely to outpace domestic production growth from the Jurassic fields, raising LNG imports.”

　　BloombergNEF expects LNG use in the Middle East to increase almost 50% by 2025, with most of the increase coming from Kuwait.