Oz East Coast Gas Output Up 5.5% in 2019
Australian east coast gas production in 2019 reached a record 1,914.2 petajoules (PJ) (51.11bn m3), up 5.5% yr/yr, despite plummeting prices, energy consultancy EnergyQuest said in its March 2020 quarterly report.
The simple average of short-term east coast gas prices was A$7.49 (US$4.98)/gigajoule (GJ) in Q4, down by 25.9% from an average A$10.11/GJ in Q4 2018 and down by 9% from the Q3 2019 average of A$8.23/GJ, EnergyQuest said. Export prices linked to crude oil were also trending downwards from 2018 onwards, according to an Australian government report late December.
EnergyQuest said: “Lower prices reflect surplus supply and significant falls in international prices with the Brent oil price and the three-month lagged Japan customs-cleared crude oil price. The Platts JKM North Asian LNG spot price was down by 51.1% quarter-on-quarter. Prices in Q4 were the lowest since Q2 2016 in Brisbane, Q2 2017 in Adelaide and Q4 2017 in Sydney and Victoria."
East coast gas-fired generation bounced back strongly in 2019, generating 18.0 TWh, up 15.6% yr/yr from 15.5 TWh in 2018 and utilising 167 PJ of gas. Gas-fired generation grew in New South Wales, South Australia and Victoria. Generation from coal declined by 6.2 TWh and hydro by 3.0 TWh, more than offset by higher gas, wind and solar generation, EnergyQuest said.
On the west coast, Western Australia domestic gas production grew strongly to a record 415.8 PJ in 2019, up 6.4% yr/yr. Production exceeded total state demand of 383.1 PJ, with an estimated 40.1 PJ of gas in storage at the end of 2019. The LNG projects (NWS, Gorgon, Wheatstone and Pluto) supplied 223.7 PJ, 9.3% of LNG production.
Australian LNG exports reached a record 77.3mn metric tons in 2019, sealing Australia’s claim as the world’s largest LNG producer, EnergyQuest said. The Queensland LNG projects shipped a record 22.4mn mt in 2019, up 9.1% yr/yr.