Liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports from the Gladstone port in Australia’s Queensland rose in January compared to the same month last year, 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 2 million tonnes of LNG or 30 cargoes left the three Gladstone terminals on Curtis Island.
This compares to about 1.8 million tonnes of LNG or 28 cargoes in January 2023, the data shows.
January LNG exports rose some 11.4 percent year-on-year but they dropped about 10.8 percent compared to the previous month when LNG exports reached some 2.25 million tonnes of LNG or 34 cargoes.
Moreover, most of January LNG exports (1.04 million tonnes) landed in China, marking a rise of 7.3 percent compared to 976,398 tonnes last year.
Volumes to South Korea rose to 451,943 tonnes from 410,533 tonnes last year, while volumes to Malaysia increased to 306,526 tonnes last month from 243,443 tonnes last year.
GPC also reported that 201,443 tonnes of LNG were sent to Japan in January, up from 125,611 tonnes in the same month in 2023.
The three 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.