Australia shipped an LNG cargo to Chile in June, the first since July 2020. The cargo is from the Shell-operated QCLNG project at Gladstone in Queensland. As of the end of June another two cargoes were heading towards Chile. QCLNG cargoes generally go to China and Japan. Chile mostly imports LNG cargoes from the US […]
Where are the LNG super profits?
With all the talk about LNG super profits and why not tax LNG to subsidise domestic energy (i.e. subsidise fossil fuels, wasn’t there something about this at COP 26?) we though we would look at the 10-year financial performance of Santos as an example of an Australian company heavily involved in LNG. Between 2012 and […]
East coast gas crisis: if you pull the t...
EnergyQuest has just released its Australian LNG Monthly for May 2022. The lead article is: If you pull the trigger, be careful you don’t shoot off your foot Amid the east coast electricity crisis there are strident calls for the federal government to limit Gladstone LNG exports to divert gas to the domestic market. “We […]
EnergyQuarterly June 2022: Crazy east co...
EnergyQuest has just released its June 2022 EnergyQuarterly report. The east coast energy crisis is a recurring theme through this report. Gas has been an increasingly minor contributor to NEM generation, mostly in South Australia and Queensland. In Q4 last year gas only contributed an average one percent of generation in NSW and Victoria, minute […]
East coast energy price crisis
Notwithstanding the headlines about an east coast gas crisis, the current crisis is more an electricity crisis than a gas crisis. Electricity demand has increased but coal generation has fallen due to coal outages and closures and problems with coal supply in NSW. Renewables have only been able to partially fill the gap so gas-use […]
EnergyQuest Australian LNG Monthly April...
EnergyQuest has just released its Australian LNG Monthly for April 2022. Queensland gas prices moved to over $15/GJ in April and have spiked in May, to over $30/GJ. Wholesale electricity prices have reached stratospheric levels. The report outlines some of the demand and supply factors behind these spikes. For gas there is continuing strong demand for LNG at high international prices (strengthened further by the fall […]
EnergyQuest Australian LNG Monthly March...
EnergyQuest has just released its Australian LNG Monthly for March 2022. East coast gas prices moved over $10/GJ in March and have spiked in April, reaching $19.31/GJ in Brisbane on 9 April. This does not appear to be due to LNG exports but more likely due to closures and outages in coal-fired generation. LNG demand in North Asia, Australia’s major market, turned down in February, dropping 17.7% below […]
EnergyQuest Australian LNG Monthly Febru...
EnergyQuest has just released its Australian LNG Monthly for February 2022. The EU is scrambling to de-link from Russian gas, partly through increased LNG. This is likely to keep gas markets tight in both Europe and Asia. There were no Australian cargoes to Europe in February and most Australian cargoes are likely to continue heading […]
Russia, oil and petrol prices
I’ve been getting questions about oil and petrol prices and the role of Russia. For what it’s worth here is my take. The Brent oil price yesterday was US$132.33 per barrel (8 March) and Australian ULP petrol prices are passing $2/litre. Q. Why are oil prices shooting up? A. The oil market was very tight […]
EnergyQuarterly March 2022: Implications...
EnergyQuest has just released its March 2022 EnergyQuarterly report. The cover highlights the accelerating closure of coal in the NEM. Are all these coal closures good news for gas-fired generation (GPG)? Probably not for gas volumes but gas is still likely to play an important role. East coast gas remains finely balanced. Southern production did well in […]