The Paris-based International Energy Agency said the fuel would take a more dominant role over the next decade and supply must be expanded to match it. It said that while consuming countries could consider building up emergency stocks, this would not be "a silver bullet".

The comments, made in the IEA's second annual Natural Gas Market Review published yesterday, follow similar warnings last year.

"While the 2006 review expressed concern about insufficient investment, we are even more worried this year and see it as the major threat to secure affordable global gas supplies over the medium to longer term, " said the IEA executive director Claude Mandil. "Cost increases and delays are hitting investment hard in many places, and this phenomenon is not limited to a specific producing region."

The IEA called on the governments of its 26 member countries, which include Ireland, to streamline regulation, improve market functioning through greater transparency and increase domestic production. It also advocated a more efficient use of gas and a diversification of supply sources and routes.

"This highlights the fact that countries will be more dependent on natural gas, " said Brian O'Cathain, chairman of Irish-based exploration firm Petroceltic.

Ireland should seriously consider developing liquid natural gas terminals at home, he added.