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Euromonitor International's Industrial reports provide a 360 degree view of an industry. The Industrial market report offers a comprehensive guide to the size and shape of the Manufacture and Distribution of Gas market at a national level. It provides the latest retail sales data, allowing you to identify the sectors driving growth. It identifies the leading companies, the leading brands and offers strategic analysis of key factors influencing the market - be they new product developments, packaging innovations, economic/lifestyle influences, distribution or pricing issues. Forecasts illustrate how the market is set to change.

Consumers love competition as it helps to keep prices low while improving customer service, and these are just two of the benefits seen with energy deregulation. Citizens now find that deregulation of energy in Ohio will benefit them also thanks to Border Energy and their launch of a campaign to increase consumer awareness of this topic. "With the help of Ohio Choice Energy, Border Energy hopes to let all citizens know that they have options and no longer have to live with high energy prices or poor customer service from their electric or natural gas provider," the media team at Border Energy explains.

Turkey will remain heavily dependent upon oil and gas imports for the foreseeable future. However, its role as a critical energy transit hub between Europe, the Eastern Mediterranean, the Middle East, the Caspian and Russia provides it with a unique form of leverage and makes it a key player in the global energy market. The decision to proceed with the TAP and TANAP natural gas pipelines cements Turkey's position as a critical transit country, and also secures 6bcm of new supplies for Turkey's domestic market. There is also upside potential to the country's domestic energy production in the form of Black Sea reserves and unconventional development, although it remains too early for either to be factored into our forecasts. Mounting investment into exploration activities underscores the government's growing commitment to increasing its own domestic resource base.

The Philippines' oil and gas market is small but growing, marked by an expected short-term increase in both liquids and gas production, although it will still be insufficient to meet growing domestic demand. Longer-term growth will be dependent on results from ongoing and short-term exploration.

Despite planned investment in order to stabilise output from Azerbaijan's ACG complex, the long term outlook for liquids is bearish notwithstanding near term gains from the US$6nn Chirag Oil Project (COP). The greatest source of upside risk to our oil outlook comes from our bullish view on Azeri gas, with a number of major untapped gas fields holding liquids potential as well. Despite a number of large fields having already been identified for exploration and appraisal, a shortage of rigs and the technical challenges of the Caspian's operating environment have slowed development. In the absence of firm timelines, we have yet to include these projects in our forecast but note the risks for gas are weighted heavily to upside as progress on strategically significant export infrastructure into Europe continues to advance.

We currently expect hydrocarbons production to continue its upward trajectory in Bolivia over the medium term; however, we are pricing in a slowdown in growth toward the end of the decade. Namely, while the country's oil and gas sector has largely weathered broader concerns related to the business environment, the threat of resource nationalism remains a risk, as does a fairly weak reserve position, encouraging a more tempered long-term outlook. Of the two hydrocarbons, we believe gas has a brighter future, with the redevelopment of producing fields and increased investment into new exploration to bolster output. With regards to liquids, condensate volumes from gas production presents upside potential and we note significant short-term growth from the bringing online of natural gas liquids separators. We believe though, that maturing crude fields suggest potential for a slowdown in growth over the longer term.

MarketLine's Company Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), Partnerships & Alliances and Investments reports offer a comprehensive breakdown of the organic and inorganic growth activity undertaken by an organization to sustain its competitive advantage.

Journyx today announces a customized time, expense and equipment tracking solution for the oil and gas industry. Journyx is dedicated to helping oil and gas companies drive their profits up. Accurate labor and equipment usage data gives companies the power to control lift costs and gain visibility into real-time service costs.

US Land Grid, Inc. (http://www.uslandgrid.com) has announced the release of their oil and gas wells for Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, New Mexico, North Dakota and California.

BMI View: We see the recently passed Mexican energy sector reform as the start of a fundamental paradigm shift for the country's hydrocarbons sector. While it does not challenge the national narrative that hydrocarbons belong to the state, working within these constraints the landmark bill takes steps to incentivise private sector involvement through the creation of a flexible contract system. As such, although we stress that it will take a number of years before results are felt in the country's production and reserves data, over the long term, we believe this will bolster investment and could reverse a nearly decade long decline in oil production.

BMI View: The November 2013 interim nuclear deal reached in Geneva has rightly been hailed as a significant development in the negotiations between Iran and the West, and marks a further improvement in the Islamic Republic's international position since the election of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in June 2013. However, it is crucial to note that the agreement does not lift sanctions on Iran's oil exports and does not allow for additional Iranian oil sales. Any significant easing of the oil export ban would only come as part of a broader, final settlement, which would be at a minimum 6-12 months away. Therefore, for the moment, the Iranian hydrocarbon sector remains largely impaired due to the ongoing sanctions. We do not expect a large increase in oil production and exports for the moment. In terms of gas, we believe that Iran will not be able to increase production sufficiently to satisfy mounting domestic gas demand. This will translate into increasing gas shortages. Meanwhile, Iran is claiming a succession of major oil and gas discoveries that, if proven, demonstrate considerable upside potential to its existing resource base. In a bid to secure much-needed investment, Iran is offering improved terms to contracts long seen as uncompetitive by operators, but few national oil companies are likely to bite in view of sanctions and a backlash from the US/UN.

Robust unconventional and offshore production is set to buoy US crude oil growth, such that in the coming year we see the country as set to overtake Saudi Arabia to become the largest liquids producer in the world. The robust production story has also fed through to the US' downstream sector. Indeed, while we do not foresee the US ending its crude oil imports in the coming years, with rising liquids production and a ban on crude exports, this will encourage greater refined product output - especially diesel and liquefied petroleum gases.

We expect Oman's recent impressive gains in oil production to begin to moderate, with output peaking in 2016 before gradually trending lower as the recent impressive gains from enhanced recovery operations begin to dissipate. There are many upside risks to this view, with opportunities from the approval of additional upstream projects to new discoveries, with offshore a particular area of opportunity. However there is downside risk such as disappointing output from redevelopment projects approval failure. These risks extend to gas as well. While we assume a more sustained rebound in output, albeit with much of the gains reliant upon BP's costly and complex Block 61, setbacks here would result in downward revision to our forecast. That said, Oman's continued push to secure additional foreign participation makes the market one of opportunity despite expectations for growth to moderate.

BMI View: Interest in West Africa's deepwater potential remains strong, underscored by Total's recent subsalt discovery and the recent award of a number of offshore blocks to an impressive roster of companies. Although the uptick in exploration activity offshore Gabon is encouraging, the country's business environment remains a serious concern with the potential to slow or deter the rebound in interest. Notwithstanding the upside, we retain our view that oil production in Gabon is set to plateau from middecade and gradually decline. The start of some small new fields or redevelopment will fail to offset falling volumes from mature fields elsewhere.

MarketLine's Company Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), Partnerships & Alliances and Investments reports offer a comprehensive breakdown of the organic and inorganic growth activity undertaken by an organization to sustain its competitive advantage.

BMI View: Brazil's massive pre-salt fields, such as Lula, Iracema and Franco, suggest substantial growth potential over the long term, underpinning our view that crude, natural gas and other liquids output will rise from an estimated 2.3mn b/d in 2013 to 3.9mn barrels per day (b/d) by 2022. That said, this is a modest downward revision from previous quarters, reflecting our view that the above-ground environment remains a considerable obstacle to both the country's upstream and downstream sectors. Indeed, muted interest in the country's first pre-salt round, such that there was ultimately only one consortium that bid, underscores the potential impact of Brazil's unfavourable licensing terms and burdensome regulatory environment. Meanwhile, following the volte-face by the government on a new fuel pricing mechanism, imported fuel costs will likely continue to act as a significant burden on state-owned Petrobras' already weak financial position.

MarketLine's Company Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), Partnerships & Alliances and Investments reports offer a comprehensive breakdown of the organic and inorganic growth activity undertaken by an organization to sustain its competitive advantage.

We foresee a steep learning curve for the Greek authorities as they attempt to establish Greece as a destination for exploration and production (E&P) investments. The multi-month delays (on account of fiscal and taxation issues) in the finalisation of the open-door licences in Ioannina and the Gulf of Patras and the nebulous arrangements of the Katakolo licence, along with an ongoing 20-month delay in appointing the statutory hydrocarbons supervisory and management agency (EDEY AE), testify to the inexperience of the Greek authorities to move through the process (even of this small licensing round) in a timely manner - a negative precursor to the government's aspirations for an international licensing round. The absence of a declared and demarcated Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) is a further obstacle that will cause delays. This, in conjunction with an anaemic institutional infrastructure as well as the absence of solid and stable fiscal and tax regimes to govern the upstream sector, represents the main hindrances to Greece's E&P aspirations. We note some upside risks to our forecasts for Greek hydrocarbons production towards the end of our forecast period; however, for the time being, we cannot factor in a change to our forecast scenario, which suggests very limited upstream activity in the country.

While Cameroon's near-term oil production outlook is somewhat uncertain, there are projects capable of delivering modest volume growth over the medium-to-long term. More efficient usage of associated gas, through the limitation of flaring and the development of domestic resources, offers prospects for sustainable growth in the upstream gas segment, with potential output available for domestic use, power generation and eventually for export as liquefied natural gas (LNG).

Although oil output is on track to register its 12th consecutive year of decline on an annual basis, the fall should be less pronounced than the previous year's 8%. With a strong response to licensing rounds, high levels of investment, highly prospective frontier acreage, and discoveries in mature areas, Norway retains a number of strengths and opportunities despite the continued downtrend in production. However, we note that as new projects come online from the end of the decade, production is on track to rebound. With sizable untapped gas potential and our forecast for steady reserve additions, production decline should be mitigated, with overall gas output remaining flat over the forecast. We expect Norway to retain its role as key supplier of gas to Europe.

Fuelled by the world's third largest proven gas reserves, Qatar has positioned itself as the leading global exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG). Rising competition, led by liquefaction growth in Australia, the US and potentially East Africa, will pose a challenge to Qatar's hold on the global gas market later in the decade. Qatar is responding by making increasing efforts diversify its economy through expanding its downstream and petrochemical sectors. Furthermore, the country is growing the international presence of Qatar Petroleum International to offset what will likely be slow growth in domestic oil and gas revenues given the absence of plans for an expansion of LNG and GTL export capacity.

MarketLine's Company Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), Partnerships & Alliances and Investments reports offer a comprehensive breakdown of the organic and inorganic growth activity undertaken by an organization to sustain its competitive advantage.

BMI View: Nigeria's hydrocarbon sector continues to struggle amid a worsening political and business environment. Most recently, Chevron's decision to move out of the OKLNG project signals that even the large upside potential of the Nigerian gas market is not sufficient to offset the degradation in investor sentiment. The weak output flows in 2012 were the consequence of flooding, repeated oil thefts and regulatory uncertainty. We estimate that total oil production for 2013 declined to about 2.4mn, and expect production to remain feeble over the coming year. Output should ramp-up more significantly as many large fields come online after 2014, more than offsetting current depletion. Adoption of the Petroleum Industry Bill, which we do not however expect before the Nigerian 2015 election, would be a strong signal for investors that Nigeria's hydrocarbons sector is ready to move forward.

Upstream exploration has been experiencing a boom recently due to the increasing prospectivity of South Africa's underexplored offshore and as well as progress in the field of shale gas and coal bed methane development. Majors ExxonMobil and Total have joined Shell in exploring South Africa's offshore, while growing political support to move forward with shale development should see permits issued at some point in Q1 2014. All these developments point towards considerable upside to South Africa's oil and gas sector which will struggle to match growing demand over the coming years.

While China is increasingly dependent on energy imports - particularly gas - owing to rapid growth in its energy demand, there is considerable upside potential from its unconventional oil and gas resources. However, a more open environment to foreign investment is needed in order to meet the ambitious production targets set by the state, especially if its vast unconventional resources are to be maximised in light of difficult below-ground conditions. In the meantime, oil and gas demand could surprise to the downside if economic expansion comes under pressure.