JUST IN: Japan, China, Korea, Mexico remain Australia’s major LNG destinations
Four countries – Japan, China, Korea, and Mexico remain Australia’s major Liquefied Natural Gas, LNG destinations, according to Energyquest’s report.
According to the report obtained by The Daily, www.thedaily-ng.com, “Japan once again was Australia’s top export destination with 30.3 Mt (38%) of Australian export volume, down slightly from 30.7 Mt (40%) in 2019. Notwithstanding political tensions, China imported 29.6 Mt (37%) of Australian export volume, up from 28.8 Mt (37%) in 2019. Korea continues to be Australia’s third most popular destination, importing 8.1 Mt in 2020, compared to 7.7 Mt in 2019.
“In keeping with the unusual year of 2020, QCLNG exported Australia’s first cargo to Chile while Wheatstone exported a cargo to Mexico, indicating the disruption within the market during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Mixed year for Australian LNG producers EnergyQuest estimates total 2020 LNG export revenue was A$36.1 billion, down from A$48.7 billion in 2019.
“Export income has been severely impacted by the lower oil prices seen through much of the year since April, together with low spot prices. This produced lower returns for all the Australian projects, as highlighted in the reporting by Woodside, Santos, and Origin Energy. Australia’s two largest LNG producers Chevron and Shell had additional problems, Gorgon trains being offline for repairs and Prelude hardly online at all. Gorgon also continues to have problems with its carbon capture and storage. The problems with Gorgon and Prelude illustrate the risks of mega-engineering projects.
“Chevron and its partner Woodside have clearly pulled back on their plans for the Kitimat LNG project in Canada, with Chevron announcing over a year ago that it intended to exit the project. Shell sawEnergyQuest estimates that Australia exported a record 78.0 Mt of LNG in 2020, up from 77.5 Mt in 2019. This is a good result given the disruptions to Gorgon, the fact that Prelude hadn’t produced since early February, issues seen at Wheatstone with reduced production, and the COVID-19 destruction of LNG demand, particularly early in the year.
“Australian production was above Qatar nameplate capacity of 77 Mtpa. (The precise level of Qatar LNG exports is uncertain because Qatar does not disclose its actual LNG export volumes.) The Australian projects operated at 89% of the operation nameplate capacity of 87.8 Mtpa”
It added: “Western Australian production was up by 5% on 2019 to 43.7 Mt, but Northern Territory again proved the standout with production up by 11% on 2019 to 11.7 Mt. The east coast had record production of 22.6 Mt, although up only 1% overall from 22.4 Mt in 2019”
