OUR GREAT MINDS

    by Tina Olivero

    AUSTRALIA LNG EXPORTS HEADING FOR 60 MILLION TONNES

    Australia’s LNG exports surged by 37.7% to 36.8 million tonnes (Mt) over calendar 2016 as the plethora of new projects in WA, the Northern Territory and coastal Queensland triggered a flood of new shipments to global markets. Total exports were 10.1Mt above the 26.7Mt shipped in 2015.  Performance in 2017 is expected to be even stronger.

    In its just-released monthly LNG report, the respected independent energy consultancy, EnergyQuest, says that as APLNG and Gorgon continue to ramp up and new LNG projects come into production (Wheatstone and Ichthys), Australia’s 2017 exports will be close to 60Mt, up by 63% from 2016.

    Notwithstanding the lower oil price environment present through much of last year, EnergyQuest estimates the total value of Australian LNG exports as $17.9 billion in 2016. This is an 8.6% dollar increase over the previous year.

    Oil prices (to which LNG prices are linked) are now around 25% higher than the 2016 average, reflecting recent decisions by OPEC. If current oil prices are maintained, EnergyQuest estimates that the value of Australian LNG exports will double to around A$36 billion in 2017.

    “The growth of LNG exports is a massive benefit to the Australian economy,” EnergyQuest CEO, Dr. Graeme Bethune, said. Australia’s newest LNG hub – the three new plants around Gladstone – not surprisingly saw Queensland LNG exports nearly triple to 17.5Mt in 2016 while west coast exports were down slightly at 19.3Mt for the period. Most Australian LNG exports continued to go to established customers with long-term contracts during the year.

    Japan remains the largest customer for Australian LNG, taking 48% of 2016 cargoes. China is now the second-biggest customer, taking 30% of cargoes (60% of cargoes from Queensland). Korea is an emerging buyer (53 cargoes), and 2016 saw regular Australian cargoes to India (16 cargoes). There has been particularly strong demand for LNG in North Asia during the current winter. North Asian LNG spot prices are now the highest in two years.

    The Platts JKM marker was US$9.75/MMBtu early in January, which is well above LNG contract prices of around US$7.00/MMBtu. High spot prices are also attracting US LNG cargoes into North Asia.

    “Shipments from the Sabine Pass project on the US Gulf Coast, which were mostly going to South America, are now overwhelmingly heading to North Asia with nine of the 12 December loadings heading there,” Dr. Bethune said. “However, this does not appear to be adversely affecting Australian exports, which are also well positioned to take advantage of high spot prices,” Dr. Bethune said.

    Tina Olivero

    30 years ago, Tina Olivero looked into the future and saw an opportunity to make a difference for her province and people. That difference came in the form of the oil and gas sector. Six years before there was even a drop of oil brought to the shores of Newfoundland, she founded The Oil and Gas Magazine (THE OGM) from a back room in her home on Signal Hill Road, in St. John’s, Newfoundland. A single mother, no financing, no previous journalism or oil and gas experience, she forged ahead, with a creative vision and one heck of a heaping dose of sheer determination. With her pioneering spirit, Ms. Olivero developed a magazine that would educate, inspire, motivate and entertain oil and gas readers around the world — She prides herself in marketing and promoting our province and resources in unprecedented ways. The OGM is a magazine that focuses on our projects, our people, our opportunities and ultimately becomes the bridge to new energy outcomes and a sustainable new energy world. Now diversifying into the communications realms, a natural progression from the Magazine, The OGM now offers an entirely new division - Oil & Gas Media. Today, The Oil and Gas Magazine is a global phenomenon that operates not only in Newfoundland, but also in Calgary and is read by oil and gas enthusiasts in Norway, Aberdeen, across the US and as far reaching as Abu Dhabi, in the Middle East. Believing that Energy is everyone’s business, Ms. Olivero has combined energy + culture to embrace the worlds commitment to a balance of work and home life as well as fostering a foundation for health and well being. In this era of growth and development business and lifestyle are an eloquent mix, there is no beginning or end. Partnering with over 90 oil and gas exhibitions and conferences around the world, Ms. Olivero's role as a Global Visionary is to embrace communication in a way that fosters oil and gas business and industry growth in new and creative ways.

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      OGM - Our Great Minds