Oz LNG Exports in August Near Record

Australian LNG exports in August stood at 6.9mn metric tons (101 cargoes), down a tad from record 7mn mt in July, advisory firm EnergyQuest said in its monthly LNG report published September 15. 

August shipments were 81.2mn mt/year on an annualised basis, well ahead of Qatar’s nameplate capacity of 77mn mt/yr, EnergyQuest said. Average capacity utilisation was down slightly in August despite the continued good production at NWS, Wheatstone and Pluto, which were all operating at over 100% of nameplate capacity, it added.

The Australian projects delivered 34 cargoes to China in August, down on 39 in July, and less than to Japan. Australia shipped 42 cargoes to Japan, same as in July, EnergyQuest said.

Australian production in the financial year 2020 (July 2019-June 2020) is likely to surpass Qatar when EnergyQuest expects production to be around 80mn mt, boosted by a full year of production from Ichthys and Prelude floating LNG project.

Qatar though is planning a major North Field expansion project which will leave every other country trailing in its wake from the first half of next decade, with engineering contracts awarded but no equity partners yet announced.