Australia Becomes Japan's Biggest LNG Supplier

Australia has overtaken Qatar to become the largest supplier of LNG to Japan, the world's biggest buyer.

Last year, Australia exported 15.9 million tonnes (Mt) of LNG to Japan, overtaking Qatar, which exported 15.7 Mt, and Malaysia which shipped 14.6 Mt, Australia Associated Press (AAP) said citing the latest EnergyQuarterly report by Energy Quest.

The milestone coincides with Australia achieving both record LNG export volumes and LNG export revenue during the same period, AAP said.

EnergyQuest Chief Executive Graeme Bethune said the start-up of Woodside's Pluto LNG project in 2012 propelled Australia into top position among LNG exporters to Japan.

Japanese LNG imports were a record 87.3 Mt in 2012, 11 per cent higher than the previous year, and 18.2 per cent of that LNG came from Australia.

He said Japan's imports from Australia would keep increasing as the Gorgon, QCLNG, APLNG, Wheatstone, Prelude and Ichthys LNG projects come into production over the next five years, the AAP news report said.