Australia's East Coast ships record LNG export volumes in October

Sydney — Monthly LNG exports from Australia's East Coast breached the 2 million mt/year mark in October for the first time ever, with firm volumes to all key destinations, showed data from Gladstone Ports Corp. Nov. 6.

The three export terminals in the region shipped a combined 2.01 million mt in the month, up 1% year on year and 9% higher than the volume seen in September, the data showed.

The terminals include the 9 million mt/year nameplate capacity Origin-ConocoPhillips-Sinopec Australia Pacific LNG, the 7.8 million mt/year nameplate Santos-led Gladstone LNG, and Shell's 8.5 million mt/year Queensland Curtis LNG. All are based at the port of Gladstone in Queensland.

The October volume beats the previous high of 1.99 million mt set in December 2017, and comes two months after a 25-month low of 1.69 million mt in August amid the pandemic.

"LNG demand in east Asia has generally been bubbling along at a good pace, with signs of a further lift in Q4 2020," National Australia Bank had said Oct. 14.

However, Queensland's exports for the year, which have seen customers exercising downward contract flexibility in response to the COVID-19 demand slump and Gladstone exporters bringing forward maintenance schedules, is shaping up to fall more than 400,000 mt behind 2019.

The three terminals exported a combined 18.13 million mt in January-October at an annualized rate of 21.7 million mt. In 2019, there was a total 22.12 million mt exported.

China exports

China -- by far Gladstone's largest export destination -- was sent 1.21 million mt during the month, down 12% from a particularly strong October 2019 and 1% lower than September, the GPC data showed.

"LNG has been relatively safe from rumblings that China will look to limit exports from Australia," Commonwealth Bank of Australia analyst Vivek Dhar said Nov. 4.

"That's likely because China helped invest in Australia's LNG exports. Queensland's three LNG export projects have seen significant investment by China's state-run energy giants CNOOC, Sinopec, and PetroChina," he said.

"We expect Australian LNG exports to China to be relatively safe, but needs to be watched closely," he added.

LNG exports from Gladstone to China have annualized at 14.31 million mt over January-October, well below the 15.87 million mt total seen last year, the GPC figures showed.

Exports to South Korea, Gladstone's second largest LNG export destination, eased 6% from a six-month high in September at 342,070 mt in October, up 20% year on year, the data showed.

Volumes to Malaysia soared to a five-month high of 189,280 mt, a 199% year-on-year increase and a 195% rise from September, GPC said.

GPC reported 127,999 mt exported to Japan, level year on year and up 93% from September. Singapore was sent a total of 141,863 mt, up 14% from the same month last year and a 134% jump month on month.

LNG exports from Gladstone began in January 2015 when QCLNG's first train came online. The last of the port's six trains shipped its first cargo in October 2016 via APLNG's second train.