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March 2025

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Editorial comment

Another month has gone past, and with it comes another issue. February flew by for me – I’ve just come back from my holidays in Australia, which was of course filled with all the touristy things there are to do, including trips to Melbourne, Phillip Island, and Sydney, climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and even seeing some kangaroos and koalas in their natural habitat.

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Australia started off with rapid growth in the LNG sector. After the first LNG project began operation in 1989 (producing 2.5 million tpy), the country had become the world’s second-largest LNG exporter by 2015, shipping 30.4 million tpy with a value of AUS$16.53 billion.1 Australia surpassed Qatar in 2020 to become the largest exporters of LNG in the world,2 exporting LNG almost exclusively to Asian markets – notably China (one of the world’s biggest importers of LNG) and Japan – with most of the country’s LNG projects located in Western Australia and Queensland.

10 years after Queensland’s first LNG shipment left Gladstone in 2015, things seem a little less rosy. Domestic gas prices have tripled and two of Gladstone’s three LNG plants are having to source gas from other gas producers to meet their production targets. Moreover, only three of the proposed eight LNG plants have been built, all of which have been affected by delays and cost blow-outs. Coupled with competition from cheaper LNG supplies (and good availability) from Qatar and the US, Australia has slipped down the rankings slightly, and is now the world’s third-biggest LNG exporter.3

Having said all that, Tamboran Resources Corp. and Santos Ltd recently entered into a non-binding memorandum of understanding to undertake technical studies relating to a potential Darwin LNG Train 2 expansion. The goal is to assess options for supplying natural gas to a potential train at the existing facility.4 We’ll have to wait and see if Australia can regain their crown as the world’s largest LNG exporter.

In contrast, Australia’s neighbour, New Zealand, doesn’t have any LNG industry to speak of, with no import or export projects in place in the country. However, New Zealand is considering building ‘bespoke’ infrastructure to accommodate LNG imports to address energy shortages and improve energy security, although LNG imports might still prove too expensive to make this a reality.5 In this month’s regional report, Rystad Energy makes the case for how LNG could complement the country’s energy mix, which is predominantly made up of renewables, specifically hydropower. This issue also includes articles on topics such as LNG carrier design, tank maintenance, liquefaction technology, and more.

References

  1. ‘LNG in Australia: Global and national benefits’, APPEA, (2016), https://www.appea.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/LNG-in-Australia_global-and-national-benefits.pdf
  2. ‘Country Analysis Executive Summary: Australia’, U.S. Energy Information Administration, (18 March 2022), https://www.eia.gov/international/content/analysis/countries_long/Australia/australia.pdf
  3. MORRISON, K., ‘Queensland LNG exports: A decade of high domestic prices, falling local demand’, Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, (February 2025).
  4. Tamboran and Santos execute MOU to progress studies for Darwin LNG expansion’, Tamboran, (22 January 2025), https://ir.tamboran.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/16/tamboran-and-santos-execute-mou-to-progress-studies-for-darwin-lng-expansion
  5. LLEWELLYN, I., ‘LNG imports too expensive, but bespoke option still on table’, BusinessDesk Markets, (27 February 2025), https://businessdesk.co.nz/article/markets/lng-imports-too-expensive-but-bespoke-option-still-on-table

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