LNG: How Australia exported 78.0 MT 2020 — Report
By Eyo Nsima
Australia, a leading Liquefied Natural Gas, LNG nation exported 78.0 MT of LNG in 2020, according to a report by EnergyGuest.
The report obtained by The Daily, www.thedaily-ng.com, stated: “EnergyQuest 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. Western Australian production was up by 5% from 2019 to 43.7 Mt, but Northern Territory again proved the standout with production up by 11% in 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. One of the reasons why it has been possible to maintain strong Gladstone exports is that use of gas for electricity has been falling, replaced by renewables. The use of gas for generation fell by 39 PJ in 2020 compared with 2019. Replacing east coast gas with renewables to free up gas to export to China to replace coal is a win-win both environmentally and economically. The three Gladstone projects operated at record levels for the last three months of 2020, with two months greater than 100% nameplate capacity”
The report added: “Western Australia continued to dominate Australian LNG, supplying 56% of national exports, while Queensland produced 29% and the Northern Territory 15%. The North West Shelf project in Western Australia was the largest contributing project, followed by the two Chevron-operated projects, Gorgon and Wheatstone. Pluto had the highest percentage growth, up 16.5% on production volumes from 2019 to produce 5.3 Mt in 2020”
