Australia continues to increase its exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG), solidifying its position as one of the top three LNG exporters globally. In 2022, Australia even claimed the top spot in LNG exports. This year, the country has witnessed a 1.3% growth in exports, putting it in second place, just behind the USA and ahead of Qatar.
According to a recent report by shipbroker Banchero Costa, the global trade in LNG has been on the rise, partly due to events in Ukraine, which prompted Europe to seek alternatives to Russian pipeline gas. In 2022, global LNG shipments surged by 4.9% year-on-year, reaching 404.1 million tonnes, as reported by Refinitiv vessel tracking data. However, in 2023, the growth momentum that started strong in the first quarter has somewhat slowed down in the spring and summer.
Around the shipping word in 1 minute as on 12th September 2023
Banchero Costa notes that in the first eight months of 2023, LNG shipments increased by 1.7% year-on-year to 271.8 million tonnes, up from 267.2 million tonnes during the same period last year. The most significant increase in demand over the past couple of years has come from Europe. In 2022, the European Union imported 100.9 million tonnes of LNG, marking a substantial 68.9% increase from the 59.7 million tonnes imported in 2021. In the first eight months of 2023, the EU imported 69.8 million tonnes of LNG, a 6.7% increase compared to the same period last year.
The report also highlights that the European Union now accounts for 25.7% of global seaborne LNG imports, surpassing China in second place with 16.7% and Japan with 16.1%. In the first eight months of 2023, the United Kingdom imported 11.3 million tonnes of LNG, showing a 6.2% decrease compared to the same period in 2022 but a significant increase from the 7.6 million tonnes imported in 2021.
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The UK’s share of global LNG imports is now 4.2%. Mainland China imported 45.3 million tonnes of LNG in the same period in 2023, a 10.4% increase from the previous year but still below the 52.4 million tonnes imported in 2021. India witnessed a modest 1.0% year-on-year increase to 13.6 million tonnes in the first eight months of 2023, but this remains lower than the 15.9 million tonnes imported during the same period in 2021. Japan, on the other hand, experienced a significant decline of 14.6% year-on-year in LNG imports during the same period in 2023, with volumes reaching their lowest point in at least a decade.
