Energy Minister Predicts Australia to Be Biggest LNG Exporter

Energy Minister Predicts Australia to Be Biggest LNG Exporter

Federal Resources Minister Gary Gray has predicted Australia will be the biggest liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporter in the world within five years.

Addressing the 17th International Conference on Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG 17) in Houston, Texas, Minister Gray said that with seven of the world’s twelve projects now under construction in Australia, he expects that by 2018 Australian production will approach 90 million tonnes a year.

Australia is ramping up production to meet global demand for LNG with the International Energy Agency predicting a 50 per cent rise in gas demand by 2035. This makes it the world’s fastest growing energy source and likely to approach demand for coal in that period.

“The agency also notes that the global gas trade balance is shifting to the Asia-Pacific Region, with more than two thirds of LNG production now directed into these markets.

“This is largely a story of economic growth as developing countries become developed countries.

“Emerging economies are set to account for 80 per cent of increased global gas demand over the next 20 years.

“Asia-Pacific LNG imports will increase on average by seven per cent a year to reach 272 million tonnes a year by 2018, up from 185 million tonnes in 2012.

“China, alone, will account for a fifth of this increase and is on track to become one of the world’s largest LNG importers.”

Australia already exports LNG from the North West Shelf; Darwin LNG; and Pluto. These will be joined by Gorgon, Wheatstone, Ichthys, the Queensland-Curtis Island, Gladstone and the Asia-Pacific LNG projects. The Prelude FLNG project will be in the commissioning phase.

The next global LNG conference is set to be held in Perth in April 2016. This week’s conference at Houston’s George R. Brown Convention Centre has attracted more than 6000 industry professionals.

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LNG World News Staff, April 17, 2013; Image: minister.ret.gov.au