Liquefied natural gas exports from Australia During the month of December remained flat with 98 cargoes departing the country, the same as the previous month. 

The start-up of the Ichthys project during 2018 and continued good performance of Wheatstone, which started production from Train 2 during 2018, has made a major contribution to the growth in Australian exports.

The energy consultancy, EnergyQuest said December shipments reached 6.6 mtpa, pushing the total for the year 2018 to 69.5 million tons, 23 percent up on the 56.5 mtpa exported in 2017.

On an annualized basis, Australia’s December shipments were 78 mtpa on an annualized basis.

Australia continues to be the largest LNG supplier to China, supplying 46 percent of Chinese LNG imports in November, the consultancy said.

East coast LNG shipments decreased to 1,795 kt in December (1,939 kt in November), with 27 cargoes in December compared to 29 in November, EnergyQuest said.