PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The Covid-19 pandemic started to impact liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports from Australia during the month of May, with exports down by seven cargoes, compared with April.
Energy advisory EnergyQuest noted in its May report that shipments from Australian LNG projects reached 6.4-million tonnes in May, down from the 6.9-million tonnes shipped in April, with lower cargoes coming primarily from the Australian Pacific LNG and Ichthys projects.
Of the 93 cargoes shipped during May, 35 were delayed.
EnergyQuest has estimated that Australian LNG export revenues in May decreased to A$3.8-billion, from the A$4.25-billion in May, with Western Australia making up A$2.09-billion of this export revenue, followed by Queensland at A$1.38-billion, and Darwin, at A$0.33-billion.
EnergyQuest noted that LNG deliveries to China were still performing well during May, with 37 cargoes shipped to the region, following the 40 cargoes shipped in April.
Chinese LNG imports were up by 12.2% in April, compared with the same period last year, with Chinese imports from Australia reaching 2.8-million tonnes in April, the highest on record, and significantly higher than the 1.9-million tonnes imported in March, and 12% higher on April 2019.
However, EnergyQuest pointed out that LNG imports by both Japan and Korea dropped, by 7.7% and 7.2% respectively in April, with Japanese imports reaching their lowest levels since November 2009.
In May, Australian LNG producers made 29 deliveries to Japan, down from the 36 cargoes delivered in April, and the 33 delivered in May last year.