Australia's LNG exports rose to 3.6 million mt in June, up 560,000 mt or 18.5% from May, with many of the country's six projects producing at above nameplate capacity, local consultancy EnergyQuest said Tuesday in a report.
Australia's LNG projects shipped 44 cargoes over the course of the month, with half destined for Japan, EnergyQuest said. China took 15 of the cargoes, with two each bound for South Korea, India and Egypt, and one for Taiwan.
The Woodside Petroleum-operated North West Shelf project in Western Australia, which has a capacity of 16.3 million mt/year, recorded a full month of production in June, lifting the state's exports to 1.8 million mt in 27 cargoes, according to the consultancy.
The North West Shelf's June shipments totaled 1.3748 million mt in 13 cargoes, up from 856,100 mt in May and equating to annualized output of more than 16.5 million mt/year.
The eastern state of Queensland, home to three new coalseam gas-to-LNG facilities, exported 1.4 million mt in 22 cargoes in June and ConocoPhillips' Darwin plant in the Northern Territory shipped 300,000 mt in five cargoes.
Although Japanese and South Korean LNG imports continue to fall on a year-on-year basis, Chinese imports rose 27% to 1.4 million mt in May, the latest month for which data is available, with Australia its major supplier.
Indian imports were up by 450,000 mt in May, up 40% year on year and in line with the strong growth recorded over the first five months of 2016, the consultancy said.
The Japanese Customs Cleared oil price was $32.01/b in March which, assuming a three-month lag for May deliveries of Australian LNG, put the consumer's average import price at $5.89/MMBtu, EnergyQuest said.
