LNG boost to fire up production by 13pc

THE emergence of a small domestic liquefied natural gas development is set to help boost Australian natural gas production by 13 per cent next financial year, according to the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics.
Its latest commodity forecast, published yesterday, said output would increase mainly as a result of the ramp-up in production at the ConocoPhillips Darwin LNG project, which began shipping to Japan earlier this year, and the Santos Casino gas project, in Otway Basin, south of Port Campbell in Victoria.
The 2007 figures would also include start-up production from Woodside's Otway gas development and the Karratha LNG project.
This project, being constructed by Energy Developments, is designed to produce a relative minnow in terms of export LNG - delivering around 78,000 tonnes of LNG that will be trucked to remote-area power stations in Western Australia.
ABARE noted that a number of new LNG agreements had been signed between the North West Shelf venture and Japanese energy companies in the past few months, and shipments were scheduled for 2009.
"With a number of countries looking to secure sources of cleaner fuel for power generation, demand for Australian LNG exports is expected to increase," ABARE said.
"In response, Australian production of LNG is forecast to increase substantially in the short term, supported by higher production from Darwin LNG, the start-up of production from Karratha LNG and the commencement of operations from the fifth train of the North West Shelf venture (4.2 million tonnes a year), scheduled to come online in late 2008."
ABARE had forecast Australia's exports of LNG would increase by around 22 per cent to 15.2 million tonnes in 2006-07, while LNG exports would increase by 24 per cent to $5.5 billion in the year.