uly 2 (Bloomberg) -- Natural gas, trading at a 40 percent discount to crude, may rise to reach the record price of oil as demand for cleaner-burning fuels increases, according to energy ministers from Qatar, Algeria and Iran.
U.K. natural gas sells for 71.35 pence a therm, or the equivalent of $85 a barrel based on its energy content, compared with $141 for Brent crude. British natural gas rose 38 percent this year, lagging behind the 50 percent advance in oil.
Natural-gas use worldwide rose 3.1 percent last year, almost three times faster than the 1.1 percent increase in oil, according to figures compiled by BP Plc. Gas is cleaner-burning than oil and creates half as much carbon dioxide as coal when used to generate power, helping ease the buildup of greenhouse gases blamed for climate change.
``Gas is clean and it is an alternative to oil,'' Qatar Oil Minister Abdullah al-Attiyah said in an interview in Madrid this week. ``The price should be at least competitive to oil.'' Qatar holds 895 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves, the world's third- largest, after Russia and Iran.
Rising global energy demand, environmental restrictions and slower progress in expanding nuclear power and wind farms are increasing demand for gas.
Liquefied natural gas may become more expensive than crude oil as demand from Asia and Europe rises faster than supply, Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. said in a report last month.
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