Liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports from the Gladstone port in Australia’s Queensland rose in April year-on-year due to higher volumes going to China, according to the monthly data by Gladstone Ports Corporation.
Curtis Island is home to the Santos-operated GLNG plant, the ConocoPhillips-led APLNG terminal, and Shell’s QCLNG facility. These are the only LNG export facilities on Australia’s east coast.
Last month, about 1.98 million tonnes of LNG or 30 cargoes left the three Gladstone terminals on Curtis Island.
This compares to about 1.89 million tonnes of LNG or 29 cargoes in April 2023, the data shows.
April LNG exports rose some 4.3 percent year-on-year but they dropped compared to the previous month when LNG exports reached some 2.07 million tonnes of LNG or 31 cargoes.
Moreover, most of April LNG exports (1.32 million tonnes) landed in China, marking a rise of 20.2 percent compared to 1.1 million tonnes last year.
The rest of the Gladstone LNG exports in April landed in South Korea (239,743 tonnes), Japan (190,797 tonnes), Malaysia (122,555 tonnes), Thailand (60,075 tonnes), and Singapore (44,840 tonnes), GPC’s data shows.
Volumes to South Korea dropped compared to 278,549 tonnes last year, while volumes to Japan increased from 206,290 tonnes last year and volumes to Malaysia dropped slightly compared to 119,480 tonnes last year.
Volumes to Thailand rose slightly from 52,261 tonnes last year and Singapore volumes dropped compared to 142,456 tonnes in April 2023.
The three Gladstone terminals shipped about 22.97 million tonnes of LNG or 350 cargoes in 2023.
This compares to about 22.64 million tonnes of LNG or 354 cargoes in 2022.