AUSTRALIA exported a total of 75.1m tonnes of liquefied natural gas in the 2018-19 fiscal year, according to energy advisory firm EnergyQuest.
This was via 1111 cargoes and was 21% higher than the 61.7m tonnes exported in FY2018.
LNG is now Australia’s third largest export by value after iron ore and coal.
EnergyQuest estimates the total LNG export revenue in FY2019 to be $50.5bn.
Australia was the world’s second largest LNG exporter in FY 2019, just behind Qatar’s nameplate capacity of 77m tonnes per year.
Australian production in FY 2020 is likely to pass Qatar when EnergyQuest expects production to be around 80mt, boosted by a full year of production from Ichthys and Shell’s Prelude floating LNG project which came online in June.
Most of the growth in production in FY 2019 occurred from projects in Western Australia and the Northern Territory, notably INPEX’s Ichthys project and Chevron’s Wheatstone project.
Queensland exports increased slightly, from 20.5m tonnes in FY 2018 to 21.8m tonnes in FY 2019. The Queensland LNG projects produced an estimated 43 PJ in excess of export demand
Japan continued to be the largest buyer of Australian LNG in FY 2019, accounting for 41% of exports.
However, China is now close behind, with 37% of exports.
South Korea was the third largest market with 10% of exports.
Japan is the biggest market for west coast exports but China is the biggest market for Queensland exports, accounting for 72% of Curtis Island shipments in FY 2019.
