Some of the highlights from the EnergyQuest April 2019 LNG Report are:
- Total Australian LNG shipments in April were a monthly record of 6.7 million tonnes (Mt) (98 cargoes), well up from 6.2 Mt (91 cargoes) in March.
- Australia’s April shipments were 81 Mtpa on an annualised basis, well ahead of Qatar nameplate capacity of 77 Mtpa. (Qatar also operated below capacity in April due to planned maintenance.)
- 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.
- The Brent oil price continued to strengthened during April. From a low of US$66.29/bbl on 22 March it rose steadily to US$74.94/bbl on 25 April, before falling slightly to US$70.56/bbl on 2 May.
- Sling North Asian spot LNG prices remain low but have risen, from US$4.42/MMBtu (May delivery) on 28 Marchto US$5.40/MMBtu (June delivery) on 29 April.
- There were some spot cargoes from Wheatstone and Ichthys, none reported from east coast projects.
- West Coast shipments increased to 4.8 Mt in April (4.2 Mt in March), with 70 cargoes in April compared to 62 in March.
- East coast LNG shipments decreased to 1,880 kt in April (1,973 kt in March), with 28 cargoes in April compared to 29 in March.
- Queensland imported minimal volumes of gas from other states in April, with flows in a westerly direction across the month, except for three days of easterly flows.
- CSG production from fields operated by the LNG producers was 114.9 PJ in April, down 2.3 PJ from 117.2 PJ in March. Total LNG pipeline flows were 110 PJ in April, down from 112 PJ in March.
- Queensland short-term domestic gas prices in April at Wallumbillawere higher than those in March, averaging $9.31/GJ ($8.97/GJ in March) but lower in Brisbane averaging $9.05/GJ ($9.28/GJ).
- Southern short-term domestic gas prices in April were higher than those in March, averaging $10.42/GJ in Adelaide ($10.42/GJ), $10.28/GJ ($10.00/GJ) in Victoria and $10.31/GJ ($10.27/GJ) in Sydney.
- EnergyQuest estimates of east coast spot LNG netbacks at the end of April were lower than east coast domestic short-term gas prices.
Information about the EnergyQuest LNG service is available by clicking here.