据油价网3月2日新闻消息称，澳大利亚液化天然气运营商今年将批准价值超过100亿美元的天然气钻探和液化天然气填充项目，以在充满活力的全球市场中保持竞争力。
澳大利亚液化天然气(LNG)开发商今年有望大幅增加对重大新项目的投资，摆脱2020年的困境。继去年削减资本支出和推迟天然气项目批准后，澳大利亚的液化天然气运营商今年将批准价值超过100亿美元的天然气钻探和液化天然气填充项目。
新的项目将帮助澳大利亚继续与卡塔尔和美国竞争世界三大液化天然气供应国。
目前，澳大利亚的年生产能力为8800万吨，居世界第一。
卡塔尔上月批准了全球产能最大的液化天然气项目—北油田东部项目(NFE)，计划将卡塔尔的液化天然气产能从7700万吨/年提高至1.1亿吨/年。因此，雷斯塔能源表示，随着澳大利亚竞争对手的生产商开始提供新的液化产能，澳大利亚将在未来10年被卡塔尔和美国超越。
据澳大利亚能源咨询公司EnergyQuest估计，尽管高更、惠特斯通和Prelude项目中断，且2020年初新冠病毒相关的需求遭到破坏，但去年澳大利亚2020年出口了创纪录的7800万吨液化天然气，高于2019年的7750万吨。
因此，据估计，澳大利亚去年的液化天然气出口已经超过了卡塔尔的产能，使澳大利亚成为全球最大的液化天然气供应国。
展望未来，卡塔尔到2025年的产能大幅增长将超过澳大利亚，但澳大利亚液化天然气运营商对其项目的未来前景变得乐观，并计划在今年批准大型开发项目并增加投资。他们相信全球液化天然气需求—尤其是亚洲的需求—将在未来几年继续飙升，原因可能是能源转型。
朱佳妮 摘译自 油价网
原文如下：
Australia Boosts LNG Spending To Compete With Qatar
Australia’s LNG operators are set to approve gas drilling and LNG infill projects worth more than US$10 billion this year in a bid to stay competitive in a very dynamic global marketplace
Australian liquefied natural gas (LNG) developers look ready to shrug off a difficult 2020 by significantly boosting spending on major new projects this year. Following slashed capital expenditure and deferred gas project sanctioning last year, Australia’s LNG operators are set to approve gas drilling and LNG infill projects worth more than US$10 billion this year.
New projects are set to help Australia to continue competing with Qatar and the United States to be among the world’s top three LNG suppliers.
Currently, Australia’s nameplate operating capacity of 88 million tons per annum (mmtpa) is the world’s largest.
This is set to change this decade, after Qatar approved last month the world’s largest LNG project in terms of capacity, North Field East Project (NFE), set to raise Qatar’s LNG production capacity from 77 mmtpa to 110 mmtpa. So Australia will be surpassed by Qatar and the U.S. in the coming decade as new liquefaction capacity is commissioned in Australia’s rival producers, Rystad Energy says.
Last year, Australia exported a record 78.0 Mt of LNG in 2020, up from 77.5 Mt in 2019, despite disruptions at the Gorgon, Wheatstone, and Prelude projects and despite the COVID-19-related destruction of demand in early 2020, Australian energy advisory firm EnergyQuest estimates.
So Australia’s exports last year are estimated to have surpassed Qatar’s production capacity to make Australia the world’s top LNG supplier.
Going forward, the massive increase of Qatar’s capacity through 2025 is set to eclipse Australia’s, but Australian LNG operators have turned optimistic about the future prospects of their projects and plan to sanction large developments and boost investments this year. They believe that global LNG demand—especially demand in Asia—will continue to soar in the coming years despite, or probably because of, the energy transition.
