Australia: LNG exports boost trade balance

Australia’s LNG exports have almost completely offset the costs of importing petroleum products in December, for the first time in more than five years, according to a report by energy analyst, EnergyQuest.

In December, despite the 40% slump in global oil prices, the value of Australian LNG and other petroleum exports just about completely offset the huge cost of importing crude oil, petrol and other petroleum products, the report said.

Australia’s total trade deficit across all goods and commodities in December last year was A$3.54 billion compared with  A$786 million a year earlier.

“Australia’s established LNG projects – Woodside’s North West Shelf and Pluto and ConocoPhillips’ Darwin LNG – have been performing exceptionally well. Now the three new Queensland projects have joined that total LNG production flow,” CEO of EnergyQuest, Graeme Bethune, said in the report.

Australian LNG production reached a record 9.1 million tonnes in the December quarter, a rise of 48% from a year earlier. Increased LNG production has offset the fall in LNG prices resulting from the slump in oil prices, the CEO said.

According to Betune, EnergyQuest estimates that increased LNG production improved Australia’s overall trade balance by approximately $500 million in December alone.

“As LNG production continues to grow, petroleum is likely to make an increasingly positive contribution to the overall Australian trade balance,” Bethune said.

1 Australian dollar = 0.711485 U.S. dollars

LNG World News Staff