Australian LNG hotting up

Seaborne LNG-export capacity will jump nearly 20% in 2018 as new projects ramp up

Five down, two to go. That's the current state-of-play for Australia's suite of new LNG projects. As expected, Australian LNG exports are growing quickly. Shipments passed 50m tonnes in 2016-17, up by nearly 40% from the previous year, as three new projects hit their straps. The two most recent Queensland coal-seam-gas projects performed strongly. The Santos-operated Gladstone LNG (GLNG) doubled exports to 5m tonnes, while its neighbour, Australia Pacific LNG (APLNG) operated by Origin Energy and ConocoPhillips, produced nearly 7m. Both will continue to ramp up output in 2018 to their contract levels and beyond. APLNG underwent an operational test for project financiers in mid-2017 and achie