Australia

Exporters of LNG from Australia’s eastern coast could be required to divert spot cargoes for the domestic market this winter as the country’s energy market operator forecasts increased peak demand and greater future supply uncertainty. The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) recently published an updated outlook of the country’s domestic supply risks and the potential…

Global natural gas prices continued falling Monday, picking up where they left off last week amid warmer weather, ample supplies and turmoil in the banking sector that has weighed on commodities.  In Europe, the May Title Transfer Facility (TTF) contract fell 13% last week. It gave up another 8% on Monday and closed at its…

Australian LNG producers are concerned about diverting exports to meet natural gas shortages in the country’s east coast market under recently proposed changes to the Australian Domestic Gas Security Mechanism (ADGSM). The latest changes to the ADSGM would allow the federal government to activate the mechanism and impose liquefied natural gas export restrictions more frequently.…

Royal Dutch Shell plc’s Prelude floating LNG (FLNG) vessel offshore Western Australia remains offline more than three weeks after another fire broke out on board.  Shell said a small fire was detected on Dec. 21 in a turbine enclosure and quickly extinguished. However, liquefied natural gas production was suspended pending an investigation, the company said. …

Woodside Energy Group Ltd. has tentative agreements with Western Gas, an Australian offshore natural gas producer, to supply more volumes and boost production from its Pluto LNG terminal. Woodside disclosed several nonbinding agreements with Western Gas in the North West Shelf Project. Western Gas is developing the Equus Gas Project in the Carnarvon Basin. Under…

Australia’s proposed plan to protect domestic consumers from global natural gas market volatility has made major LNG exporters rethink domestic supply partnerships and sparked concern amongst countries reliant on Australian supplies. On Dec. 9, the government outlined an intervention plan that could cap domestic natural gas prices at around $8/gigajoule and coal at around $86/ton…

Santos Ltd. may be facing an extended delay before it can proceed with its $3.6 billion Barossa project to extend LNG exports from northern Australia after a federal court denied an appeal. The Barossa project, sanctioned last year, is intended to provide more gas supply for the 3.7 million metric ton/year Darwin LNG terminal, possibly…

Santos Ltd. management said strong domestic natural gas demand and persisting high global LNG prices helped the company continue breaking performance records in the third quarter as it navigated progress and potential setbacks for its major projects. Like other integrated Australian producers, Santos has had to straddle the line between heightened global demand for liquefied…

While Woodside Energy Group Ltd. is pushing ahead with multi-billion dollar natural gas development projects to secure the future of its Australian assets, it made moves in the third quarter to grow its exposure to European markets with help from some added U.S. LNG. The third quarter was Woodside’s first full earnings period since it…