Global natural gas prices will come under pressure through the end of the decade as supply and shipping infrastructure grow rapidly, particularly in Qatar and the US, JP Morgan said in a report.

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The growth in gas output and liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities, which allow tankers to transport the fuel around the world, will boost efforts to switch industries from highly polluting coal to gas, which can cut greenhouse gas emissions by as much as half, the report said.

The US investment bank forecasts a 2 per cent annual growth in natural gas production by 2030 to 4,600 billion cubic metres (bcm) from 4,000 bcm in 2022, which will lead to an oversupply of 63 bcm by the end of the decade.

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LNG exporting infrastructure is expected to grow by 156 bcm by 2030 from nearly 600 bcm in 2024.

The primary sources of production growth are expected to encompass the US, the Middle East and to a lesser extent Russia, the report said.

“We see a downward global LNG price trajectory with increased volatility driven by a structurally oversupplied market,” JP Morgan Global chief global energy strategist Christyan Malek told Reuters.

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The world’s leading oil companies including Shell, BP and TotalEnergies are betting on growing demand for gas and LNG as economies grow and switch from coal to natural gas as part of their efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The sharp growth in gas supply and the drop in prices could lead to a rapid conversion from coal to gas that could save up to around 17pc of global carbon emissions, the report said.

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“While the risks of oversupply in global LNG towards the end of the decade are well understood, we believe the upside potential of coal to gas switching on LNG demand has been underestimated,” Malek said.

The European oil companies’ plans to grow gas and LNG output will however have a minimal impact on their plans to reduce carbon emission intensity of their business by 2030, research firm Accela said in a recent report.

Thai banks will cut lending rates by 25 basis points for vulnerable groups for a period of six months, a bankers’ association said on Thursday, responding to a government request to help small businesses.

Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin has been repeatedly pressing the central bank to cut interest rates from a more than decade high of 2.50 per cent, saying it is hurting businesses as the economy confronts stubbornly high household debt and China’s slowdown.

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He this week said he had asked Thailand’s four largest lenders to lower their rates.

The banks’ rate cuts will be for both individual and SME customers and will help reduce their interest burden and support their recovery, the bankers’ association said in a statement.

“Thailand member banks will expedite consideration of implementing the aforementioned principle and prepare the work system to answer the needs of vulnerable customers of each bank in the appropriate context as quickly as possible,” it said.

The Bank of Thailand left its key interest rate unchanged for a third straight meeting on April 10, resisting government pressure to ease, saying the rate still supported the economy. The next rate review is on June 12.

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The association said its move was in the same direction as the government in driving the economy and in line with the central bank’s responsible lending.

An official said it was up to each participating bank to decide when they would implement the measure.

On Wednesday, the central bank said the current policy rate was close to neutral, robust and could handle future risks to the economy, but the rate could be adjusted if needed.

Hungary’s government is giving fuel traders two weeks to adjust their prices to the central European average, Economy Minister Marton Nagy was quoted by the index.hu outlet as telling a news conference on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government scrapped a fuel price cap in December 2022 after a lack of imports and panic buying led to fuel shortages, but promised it would intervene again if fuel prices rose above the regional average.

On Tuesday, the national bank said fuel price margins had widened since the cap was scrapped, exceeding not just their previous levels but also average levels seen elsewhere in central Europe.

“In two weeks, the government will revisit this issue, look at price developments and intervene with tough measures if fuel retailers do not return to the regional average,” Marton Nagy was quoted as saying.

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On Tuesday, deputy central bank governor Barnabas Virag said he believed any intervention that “moves the market towards a lasting and sustainable decrease in these margins, setting fuel prices on a lasting and sustainable lower path” was justified.

In the first quarter of last year, annual inflation in Hungary stood at 25 per cent, the highest in the European Union. It stood at 3.6pc last March, but economists see it rebounding to 5.4pc by the end of 2024 as base effects fade and services inflation stays hot.

Morgan Stanley economist Georgi Deyanov said Hungary’s plan to align fuel prices to the regional average could trim 20 to 30 basis points off headline inflation, raising the chances of keeping it within the central bank’s tolerance band.

“We think that such an outcome would create a favourable environment for the NBH to proceed with 25bp of rate cuts per meeting in 3Q24,” he said.

“Yet, for the central bank to consider such an option, we believe more favourable global financial conditions would need to materialise too.”