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.
About 2.17 million tonnes of LNG or 33 cargoes left the three Gladstone terminals on Curtis Island last month, GPC’s data shows.
This compares to about 1.82 million tonnes of LNG or 28 cargoes in November 2023.
November LNG exports were almost flat compared to 2.15 million tonnes of LNG or 33 cargoes in October.
China volumes down, South Korea and Malaysia volumes up
Most of November’s LNG exports (1.10 million tonnes) landed in China, a 4.7 percent decrease from 1.15 million tonnes last year.
On the other hand, Gladstone LNG exports to South Korea rose to 381,991 tonnes from 229,577 tonnes in October 2023, while Malaysian volumes increased to 307,601 tonnes from 246,968 tonnes.
Other destinations for Gladstone LNG exports in November include Japan (196,809 tonnes), Singapore (68,590 tonnes), Philippines (61,145 tonnes), and Thailand (52,678 tonnes).
GPC’s data shows that volumes to Japan rose in November compared to 60,264 tonnes last year, while volumes to Singapore dropped compared to 134,732 tonnes in November 2023.
The three Gladstone 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.
EnergyQuest recently said the Gladstone LNG projects typically align their maintenance schedules with the northern hemisphere summer, a period of lower international LNG demand, which coincides with Australia’s high domestic gas demand during winter.
By September, most of the planned maintenance programs had been completed, with major maintenance carried out at GLNG during August, which followed APLNG’s scheduled maintenance in July, and QCLNG’s maintenance in May/June, it said.
As a consequence, the three Gladstone plants experienced increased production and shipping in October and November compared to the Australian winter months.
