Oz awaits coronation

Australia expected to become world's largest LNG exporter next year, as buyers line up

Australia is nearing the end of a prolonged investment phase which will raise total installed liquefied natural gas liquefaction capacity to 88 million tonnes a year across 10 projects and three states. Once the two final projects—Shell's Prelude FLNG and Inpex and Total's Ichthys LNG—fully ramp up in 2019, Australia will be the world's largest LNG exporter and a major supplier to gas buyers in Japan, South Korea and China. But the journey has been long, challenging and costly to everyone involved, and continues to have repercussions for state and federal policy, local consumers and investors. The uniqueness and complexity of the LNG megaprojects, Australia's sheer geographic size, the sensi