Australia May Produce 100 mn tonne of LNG Annually

Total SA has said Australia may eventually produce as much as 100 million tons of liquefied natural gas a year, Bloomberg reported.

“That’s a tremendous increase compared with existing production,” Chief Executive Officer Christophe de Margerie was quoted by Bloomberg as saying.

The country may be capable of producing about 80 million tons of LNG annually by 2017, surpassing Qatar as the world’s largest exporter of the fuel, he said.

Australia exported 20 million tons of the fuel last year, making it the world’s fourth-largest LNG supplier.

Total in partnership with Japan’s Inpex for Ichthys LNG project in northern Australia. The French energy giant also has a stake in the $16 billion Gladstone LNG operated by Santos Ltd. in Queensland.