In 2013 EnergyQuest completed an independent report for the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association (APPEA) on domestic gas policy in 20 countries. The report was updated in November 2020. International experience is that government interventions to reduce domestic wholesale gas prices are often unsustainable, and have numerous negative side-effects in terms of economic, energy […]
Aussie motorists shun biofuels
As Australian motorists continue to shun the use of ethanol in their fuel, and combined with the impact of COVID on all petrol type sales, demand for biofuels declined in 2019-20. Pre-COVID, Australia’s little changed biofuel production is at odds with the growing overseas experience where biofuel production (more so biodiesel) continued to increase in […]
Interesting question: What % of east coa...
Given the interest in possible east coast prospective domgas reservation (assuming there is any gas to prospectively reserve) we have been asked what percentage of east coast LNG is sold domestically and how does this compare with Western Australia? In WA 15% of LNG has to be supplied domestically under the domestic gas reservation policy. […]
FACT CHECK: do Australians pay more for ...
It is often claimed that Australians pay more for gas than do the overseas buyers of our LNG. Is this true? EnergyQuest tracks the landed price of Australian LNG in our three major markets, Japan, China and Korea. These are landed prices, prior to the cost of regasification, pipeline transport and profit margins in the […]
Gas post-COVID, too much politics, not e...
Presentation to the APGA virtual conference 20 October 2020 In this presentation Graeme Bethune said LNG is the only solution to projected domestic shortages of natural gas in the short-term. The Australian gas market operator AEMO and the ACCC have predicted declining volumes of gas coming out of Victoria and South Australia’s Cooper Basin. The […]
Federal government gas-fired recovery
Comments from EnergyQuest’s August 2020 Australian LNG Monthly. This week the Australian federal government announced a so-called Gas-fired Recovery. The plan appears to be largely concerned with the east coast, without anything obvious about Western Australia, Australia’s largest gas producer. Much of the media focus has been on proposals for new pipelines and on proposals […]
First Australian LNG cargo to Chile
Australia has just shipped its first LNG cargo to Chile. The cargo is from the Shell-operated QCLNG project at Gladstone in Queensland. It was transported aboard the Sevilla Knutsen. The tanker docked at Quintero, Chile on 15 August after a 24-day voyage of over 13,500 nautical miles. QCLNG cargoes generally go to China and Japan. […]
Australia formally becomes world’s #1 LN
Australia has officially become the world’s largest exporter of LNG on an annualised basis. In sending overseas an estimated record 77.514 million tonnes (Mt) of locally produced LNG in calendar 2019, Australia edged out former No. 1 LNG export titleholder Qatar, expected to produce 75 Mt in 2019. The 2019 Australian LNG exports were more […]
Australian Biofuels Overview 2019
Biofuels in Australia seem to be going nowhere! From about 2005 to 2010 there was a flurry of investment and interest in new biodiesel and ethanol plants in Australia. In 2009 Australia had nine operating biodiesel plants and three operating fuel ethanol plants. Come 2019, there are only three biodiesel plants of scale operating in […]
South Australian natural gas outlook
Natural gas is the second most important primary energy source for South Australia, second only to transport fuels and critical for power generation and industrial, commercial and retail customers. However the Cooper Basin, the source of almost all SA natural gas production, is currently only able to meet around 80% of SA demand and the […]