Oz natural gas production continues to grow

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AUSTRALIA set a natural gas production record in 2010 while oil production grew more than 16% off the back of the worst annual production level in 40 years in 2009.

Revealed in a report released by energy economics group Energyquest, Australian natural gas production reached a record 1999 petajoules last year, up 5.1% year-on-year due to increasing global demand for liquefied natural gas together with growth in domestic gas-fired power generation.

LNG production rose 6.2% to 19.8 million tonnes per annum due to production from the North West Shelf’s fifth train while the value of LNG exports rose 24% to a record $9.462 billion.

Energyquest chief executive Graeme Bethune said the LNG momentum looked set to continue this year.

“So far this year we have already seen another Gladstone LNG project, GLNG, in central Queensland, reaching sanction and the ConocoPhillips-Origin Energy APLNG, also situated at Gladstone, reaching major milestones,” he said.

“All together there are seven Australasian LNG projects aiming for final investment decisions in 2011, with combined capacity of around 40 million tonnes per annum.”

Domestic gas production increased 2.7% to 1060PJ while coal seam gas production on the east coast reached a record 222PJ.

Gas use for power generation on the east coast continued to grow; however, unlike LNG, there was no line-up of gas-fired electricity generation projects “rushing” towards sanction due to uncertainty over carbon pricing.

“There are many plans and approved sites but not much action partly due to low electricity prices and ongoing heightened uncertainty about carbon pricing,” Bethune said.

The federal government has announced it is pressing ahead with a carbon pricing scheme from 2012, but with many qualifications and not many details.

“The issues here are whether there will be sufficient progress with climate policy this year to provide the certainty investors need to go ahead and, if not, what the consequences might be of continuing stalled development.”

Meanwhile, during 2010, Australian oil production achieved a turnaround after slumping to a 40-year low of 99 million barrels in 2009.

Production grew 16.2% to 116MMbbl in 2010 due to production from the Pyrenees, Van Gogh and Vincent oil fields.

“Reflecting the contribution made by these fields, Apache Energy and Inpex moved up to third and fifth places respectively in the league table of Australian oil producers,” Bethune said.


Tuesday, 8 March 2011
EnergyNewsPremium.net
http://www.energynewspremium.net/StoryView.asp?StoryID=2382893

AUSTRALIA set a natural gas production record in 2010 while oil production grew more than 16% off the back of the worst annual production level in 40 years in 2009.

Revealed in a report released by energy economics group Energyquest, Australian natural gas production reached a record 1999 petajoules last year, up 5.1% year-on-year due to increasing global demand for liquefied natural gas together with growth in domestic gas-fired power generation.

LNG production rose 6.2% to 19.8 million tonnes per annum due to production from the North West Shelf’s fifth train while the value of LNG exports rose 24% to a record $9.462 billion.

Energyquest chief executive Graeme Bethune said the LNG momentum looked set to continue this year.

“So far this year we have already seen another Gladstone LNG project, GLNG, in central Queensland, reaching sanction and the ConocoPhillips-Origin Energy APLNG, also situated at Gladstone, reaching major milestones,” he said.

“All together there are seven Australasian LNG projects aiming for final investment decisions in 2011, with combined capacity of around 40 million tonnes per annum.”

Domestic gas production increased 2.7% to 1060PJ while coal seam gas production on the east coast reached a record 222PJ.

Gas use for power generation on the east coast continued to grow; however, unlike LNG, there was no line-up of gas-fired electricity generation projects “rushing” towards sanction due to uncertainty over carbon pricing.

“There are many plans and approved sites but not much action partly due to low electricity prices and ongoing heightened uncertainty about carbon pricing,” Bethune said.

The federal government has announced it is pressing ahead with a carbon pricing scheme from 2012, but with many qualifications and not many details.

“The issues here are whether there will be sufficient progress with climate policy this year to provide the certainty investors need to go ahead and, if not, what the consequences might be of continuing stalled development.”

Meanwhile, during 2010, Australian oil production achieved a turnaround after slumping to a 40-year low of 99 million barrels in 2009.

Production grew 16.2% to 116MMbbl in 2010 due to production from the Pyrenees, Van Gogh and Vincent oil fields.

“Reflecting the contribution made by these fields, Apache Energy and Inpex moved up to third and fifth places respectively in the league table of Australian oil producers,” Bethune said.


Tuesday, 8 March 2011
EnergyNewsPremium.net
http://www.energynewspremium.net/StoryView.asp?StoryID=2382893