LNG

Australian liquefied natural gas shipments were steady in December at 6.6 million tonnes and amounted to a total of 98 cargoes from the nation’s nine liquefaction plants commercially on stream in Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Queensland.

Australian liquefied natural gas revenues have surged because of rising oil prices and strong Chinese demand as gas output for the nation is now edging closer to that of Norway, though domestic political uncertainty is also increasing.

Operators of liquefied natural gas plants in Western Australia and the Northern Territory have been authorised by regulators to coordinate maintenance activities at their liquefaction facilities even as there would be some competition consequences.

The Australian government said the nation’s LNG exports were valued at A$22 billion (US$17.2Bln) in 2016-2017 and will increase to A$36Bln (US28.2Bln) in 2018-2019, driven by higher export volumes and, to a lesser extent, higher prices.

The Australian government-led feasibility study has now started to examine the potential of a West-East natural gas pipeline to supply eastern and southern markets with Western Australia’s abundant supplies as an alternative to domestic LNG shipments.

The Australian government said liquefied natural gas export volumes, which grew by nearly 50 percent in 2015-2016, are forecast to double in the next three years as new production capacity comes fully on stream and will be valued at A$42 billion (US$32Bln) by 2022.

Oct 19 (LNGJ) - BHP Billiton, the Australian energy and commodity company, said its natural gas production for the third quarter declined by 10 per cent to 182 billion cubic feet. “The decline primarily reflects lower onshore US gas volumes as a result of the decision to defer development activity for longer-term value and the successful divestment of our gas business in Pakistan. This was partially offset by increased LNG volumes at North West Shelf and higher demand at Bass Strait,” BHP said. It expects the completion by the end of 2016 of the transaction whereby it sold 50 percent of its interest in the undeveloped Scarborough area gas fields. Under the proposal, ExxonMobil will remain operator of Scarborough and operatorship of North Scarborough will transfer from BHP Billiton to Australia’s Woodside.

Prices for LNG spot cargoes into Asia have notched up for the second straight week, recovering to just under $11/MMBtu, after buyers bid close to $12/MMBtu in a tender Australia's Northwest Shelf (NWS) project for an unspecified number of cargoes loading from late August to late November.