LNG

Recall how I said that Qatar is a bit geographically screwed, with large natural gas reserves but no stable countries between it and Europe through which to build a pipeline?

Guess who's leading the world in production of (shippable) liquified natural gas (LNG)?

Trade requires buyers, so who will they ship to? I took a very rough look at this based on Wikipedia's list of regasification terminal locations; the list has the usual Wikipedia lack of accuracy guarantee, and there's an additional issue that not all terminals have the same capacity. But percentage of existing terminals probably provides a rough cut of commitment to using LNG:

ASIA: 54%
EUROPE: 23%
NORTH AMERICA: 19%
SOUTH AMERICA: 5%

Adding in planned terminals, we have:

ASIA: 50%
NORTH AMERICA: 24%
EUROPE: 22%
SOUTH AMERICA: 4%

But that likely understates Asia's plans, because China has recently planned a bunch that aren't listed in the Wikipedia article, I believe. Incidentally, a huge chunk of Asia's existing terminals in the Wikipedia list are in Japan: 32 of 43 existing terminals (though with only one planned terminal listed).

In a way, it would be much better for the world if LNG was the primary form of trade in gas. For all you hear talk about the "oil weapon," it's virtually impossible to use effectively. A big slow-down in production by OPEC can boost prices worldwide for everyone, but that's a VERY blunt weapon. Embargoes on specific countries are essentially impossible; oil is so tradable that they just buy it elsewhere or through middlemen, which boosts prices for everyone a bit, but is quite survivable. Non-LNG gas, though, because it trades in one-to-one trading arrangements with huge sunk costs attached and low ability to quickly shift quickly to other fuels, makes a darn good weapon. Like any weapon, it's used at a cost, but it's very effective if you decide you want it.