Australia has become the largest exporter of LNG on an annualized basis with an estimated 77.514 million tonnes shipped from the country’s 10 LNG projects during 2019.
Qatar is second with an expected 75 million tonnes of LNG exports in the period. The US exported 34.3 million tonnes.
Total Australian LNG shipments for 2019 were up by 11.4% on the 2018 figure, primarily due to growth in production from the Ichthys project in Darwin.
Western Australian production in 2019 was similar to 2018, but Queensland production was up by 8.2% to 22 million tonnes for 2019 with the Curtis Island CSG-LNG plants run by Australia Pacific LNG and Queensland Curtis LNG operating at close to full capacity. The Northern Territory increased its sold output buy 153% from 4.15 million tonnes in 2018 to 10.5 million tonnes in 2019.
Australia’s 10 LNG projects have a combined capacity of 87.8 million tonnes/year but, with only 88% of total nameplate capacity used in 2019, there is an opportunity to lift the current production milestone higher.
