Southeast Asia's LNG Demand Driven by Hyperscale Data Centre Boom

Malaysia and Thailand are leading the charge in Southeast Asia's demand for liquefied natural gas (LNG) due to an influx of hyperscale data centres. According to Wood Mackenzie, a global energy research analytics firm, Malaysia currently has 3.9GW of data centre capacity under development, with new regasification terminals being built to meet growing power demand as domestic gas output declines.

Thailand is expected to see its LNG share of gas supply exceed 50% by 2035 as Gulf of Thailand production and Myanmar pipeline imports continue to fall. Wood Mackenzie's principal analyst Md Fadhlullah Omarali notes that 'data centre investment is growing quickly just as domestic gas output peaks and declines.'

The firm predicts that data centre capacity across Southeast Asia will more than triple from 2.8GW today to 9.4GW by 2035, with power demand from data centres growing from 17 terawatt-hours (TWh) to 57TWh over the same period.