Australia notches up record high for LNG exports in July: EnergyQuest

Australia's LNG exports were at a record high in July, with strong performance from operations on the west coast and stable volumes on the east coast, consultancy EnergyQuest said Tuesday.

The July exports stood at 5.4 million mt with 81 cargoes, which was up from 4.9 million mt via 74 cargoes in June, it said.

This reflected higher output from Chevron's Gorgon LNG project and Woodside's North West Shelf LNG, with total west coast projects shipping 3.7 million mt during the month, up from 3.2 million mt in June, the company said.

On the east coast, the Queensland-based Gladstone LNG, Australia Pacific LNG and Queensland Curtis LNG projects' total was unchanged month on month at 1.7 million mt, it said. "On average, west coast projects operated at 108% of nameplate capacity on an annualized basis, but Queensland projects only operated at 81%, notwithstanding APLNG averaging 110%," it said.

APLNG was in the midst of a 90-day operational test for most of the month, during which it had to run at full capacity.

The 7.8 million mt/year nameplate capacity GLNG facility, meanwhile, is expected to only ramp up to 6 million mt/year by the end of 2019.

Japan, China and South Korea continued to be the dominant destinations for Australian exports, comprising 89% of deliveries in July against 92% in June, EnergyQuest said.

Meanwhile, gas production from the upstream processing plants averaged 3,631 Tj/d in July, up from 3,570 Tj/d in June. The higher production appears to reflect higher domestic demand, it said.

Oil-linked LNG netbacks are estimated by EnergyQuest to have been above east coast short-term domestic prices in July, ranging from $0.28/Gj higher in Adelaide to $2.23/Gj higher in Victoria.

"Average prices in July were $6.79/Gj in Brisbane, $9.76/Gj in Sydney, $8.92/Gj in Adelaide and $8.97/Gj in Victoria," it said.

--Nathan Richardson, newsdesk@spglobal.com
--Edited by Geetha Narayanasamy, geetha.narayanasamy@spglobal.com