Oz LNG Exports in April Up on Month

Australian LNG exports in April reached a monthly record of 6.7mn metric tons (98 cargoes), up from 6.2mn mt (91 cargoes) in March, advisory firm EnergyQuest said in its monthly LNG report.

Australia’s April shipments were 81mn mt/year on an annualised basis, well ahead of Qatar nameplate capacity of 77mn mt/yr, according to the report.

Australian projects delivered 36 cargoes to China in April, up from 33 in March and more than delivered to Japan. Australia has been delivering 40 or more cargoes a month to Japan, but this fell to 33 in April, EnergyQuest said.

There were some spot cargoes from Wheatstone and Ichthys, however, none reported from east coast projects. The three east coast projects – ConocoPhillips-Origin Energy Australia Pacific LNG (APLNG) terminal, Shell’s Queensland Curtis LNG and the Santos-led Gladstone LNG project – are all in Queensland.