A new EnergyQuest report has found that Australia is currently the world’s second largest LNG exporter, with a total of 75.1Mt of LNG exported in the 2018-19 fiscal year.
Total LNG export revenue in FY 2019 is estimated to be $50.5 billion. LNG is now Australia’s third largest export by value after iron ore and coal, 1111 cargoes and 21.2 per cent higher than the 61.7Mt exported in FY 2018.
Qatar was the world’s largest exporter of LNG with a capacity of 77Mtpa. 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 20.5Mt in FY 2018 to 21.8Mt in FY 2019. The Queensland LNG projects produced an estimated 43PJ in excess of export demand.
Japan continued to be the largest buyer of Australian LNG in FY 2019, accounting for 41 per cent of exports. However, China is now close behind, with 37 per cent of exports. South Korea was the third largest market with ten per cent of exports. Japan is the biggest market for west coast exports but China is the biggest market for Queensland exports, accounting for 72 per cent of Curtis Island shipments in FY 2019.
Australia continues to be the largest LNG supplier to Japan and China and the second- largest to South Korea.
