Oz APLNG to Supply Gas to Origin
Australia Pacific LNG (APLNG) will supply an additional 61 petajoules (1.63bn m3) of natural gas to the Australian domestic market after reaching a new gas sales agreement with Origin Energy for 2020 and 2021, it said September 26.
APLNG CEO Warwick King said this additional gas forms part of the company’s ongoing commitment to make more gas available domestically. “We are very pleased to be able to supply this significant additional volume of gas to the Australian market. We are actively working on more domestic gas sales and encourage manufacturers and other buyers with gas needs to contact us,” he said.
APLNG – a joint venture comprising Origin, ConocoPhillips and Sinopec – is Australia’s largest producer of coalbed methane (CBM) and supplies gas to Queensland’s domestic gas market, while also processing CBM into LNG for exports.
“By reaching an agreement with a retailer, more natural gas produced by Australia Pacific LNG is able to reach end-users outside Queensland,” King said.
This new contract increases APLNG’s total domestic contracted supply commitment to over 340 petajoules for 2020 and 2021, representing more than 30% of total east coast domestic demand for each year, it said.
“In 2018, APLNG supplied on average over 600 terajoules/day into the domestic market – more than the entire average daily gas demand of Queensland. This new contract will work to ensure substantial and industry-leading levels of supply through 2021,” he said.
Origin in a separate statement said pricing would be primarily oil-linked and supply shaped to meet seasonal domestic demand. The company’s executive general manager for energy supply and operations, Greg Jarvis said: “This is a substantial amount of gas which will be available to customers during the high demand winter months.”
The Queensland Resources Council (QRC) issued a statement welcoming the deal. “I applaud APLNG for helping to put downward pressure on energy prices by increasing supply into the domestic market through this new agreement with Origin Energy. It’s another sign of the Queensland gas industry leading the nation with a proactive approach to developing its gas reserves” QRC CEO Ian Macfarlane said.