LNG

Australian LNG exporters be required to reserve 20% of their gas production for the east coast domestic market under a new policy, effective July 1, 2027. The measure targets three LNG projects – Shell/Arrow Energy's Queensland Curtis LNG, Santos’ Gladstone LNG, and Origin/ConocoPhillips' Australia Pacific LNG.

Australia’s second-largest oil and gas producer, Santos, has underscored the “strategic advantage” of LNG from Down Under as the fallout from Hormuz shipping disruptions could last for years. Santos – and its rival Woodside – are both stepping up “safe” LNG supplies to Asian offtakers.

Santos, the Australian operator of the Gladstone coal-seam-gas-to-LNG plant in Queensland, said it would invest more than A$400 million (US$302M) with its partners in the Arcadia gas project in the inland Bowen Basin.

Australian LNG stakeholder Santos has rejected the $10.8-billion takeover offer from US equity fund Harbour Energy because it undervalued the Adelaide-based company and would have required Santos to provide significant support for Harbour’s debt-raising and to hedge a significant proportion of oil-linked production.

South Korea's state-run Korea Gas Corp. said it was now taking revenues from the Australian Gladstone LNG project as well as increasing its imports from Australia and the US as the Asian nation vies with China for the No. 2 spot in the league of global LNG importers after Japan.

Australian energy company Santos, a stakeholder in three Asia-Pacific LNG plants, said a block of its shares was bought by an equity fund from China, taking Chinese holdings in the Adelaide-based company to more than 15 percent.

Australian energy company Santos said its liquefied natural gas sales volumes more than doubled to 755,500 tonnes, reflecting the ramp-up of the Gladstone LNG plant in Queensland and a strong performance from Papua New Guinea LNG.

Australian energy company and major LNG stakeholder Santos said natural gas was the only fuel at present that could help clean up Asia and control carbon emissions, including in the region’s largest economy, China.

Australian energy company Santos said the three liquefied natural gas plants where it has stakes, the Gladstone coal-seam-gas-to-LNG joint venture in Queensland, the Darwin LNG plant and the Papua New Guinea project delivered a total of 56 cargoes in the first quarter.

Jul 21 - The $18.5 billion Santos-led Gladstone LNG project, in which Total and Petronas each have has a 27.5% stake, needs more gas to get off the ground, according to Total's head of upstream oil and gas, Yves-Louis Darricarrere.

"We need and we are ready to buy (more gas) but there is a price limit and it is not really economical (at the moment)," he told Australian media, raising doubt on whether the GLNG project's two trains on Curtis Island can be realised realized as planned.
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Arrow, which has abandoned plans for a stand-alone LNG plant at Gladstone, had been courted by GLNG but no deal is imminent. As an alternative to buying third party gas, GLNG was looking at acquiring more Queensland exploration ground, Darricarrere said.