The Siberian Times: Will Australia’s massive new gas plant give Siberia a run for its money?

The opening of a new liquefied natural gas plant in Australia could provide Siberia with a major rival in supplying LNG to Asia, analysts have warned.

Construction is well under way in Yamal, in the Russian Far East, on what will become the second-biggest LNG project in the world, with production of almost 17million tonnes a year. Chinese firms have been involved in financing the large-scale plant at Sabetta, and Russian President Vladimir Putin sees Beijing as a major export partner for the gas.

But a new facility in Queensland, Australia, could provide Siberia with a regional rival in what is quickly becoming an increasingly more competitive LNG market.

The inaugural shipment of the gas from the Queensland Curtis LNG plant on Curtis Island left from Australia’s east coast destined for China earlier this month. Carrying 60,000 metric tonnes, the LNG carrier Methane Rita Andrea was destined was China’s state-owned CNOOC, the Australian company’s largest customer.

The plant at Queensland is the world’s first facility to process coal seam gas, and it is expected it will have an output of about eight million metric tonnes annually.

It is the fourth site operating LNG projects in Australia, with six more planned, and analysts say the country could provide a fierce competitor for operators in Yamal. MORE