Oz LNG Exports up in Feb: EnergyQuest

Australian LNG exports in February were up year-on-year but saw a sharp drop in comparison to January, energy consultancy EnergyQuest said in its February report.

Australian LNG shipments totalled 6.1mn metric tons (90 cargoes) last month, significantly lower than the 7mn mt (103 cargoes) in January, although higher than the 5.6mn mt (82 cargoes) in February 2019. Australia’s February shipments were 76.2mn mt/yr on an annualised basis, just below Qatar’s nameplate capacity of 77mn mt/yr, EnergyQuest said.

“The disruption to trade with China and Japan from the coronavirus is starting to become evident in cargoes, not yet substantial but most pronounced in shipments from Gladstone, which supplies Chinese customers CNOOC and Sinopec,” the report said.

In total Australian projects delivered 29 cargoes to China in February, well down on 40 in January although more than the 26 delivered in February 2019. However, cargoes delivered from Gladstone fell from 17 a year ago to 14 this February. Last month, 12 Australian cargoes destined for China were delayed or diverted, EnergyQuest said. Shipments from Gladstone bound for China amounted to only 1.05mn mt in February, down from 1.24mn mt a year earlier and marking the lowest level since September 2018.

31 deliveries were made to Japan in February, well from 45 delivered in January and 40 in February 2019.

According to EnergyQuest, the slump in the oil price will take two or three months to feed through into LNG price realisations but will have a significant impact. At a 12% slope to the oil price, the LNG price is $7.80/mn Btu at an oil price of $65/b but only $4.20/mn Btu at $35/b.