Australian LNG: cost deflation offsets low prices
Medium term outlook remains positive for country's LNG market
Australia’s fortunes have long rested on its ability to exploit and export its vast mining and minerals base. Prolonged demand for fossil fuels and other commodities from Asia-Pacific, particularly China, has provided decades of prosperity and shielded the country from the fiscal hardships experienced in other developed nations. But while it is on track to overtake Qatar as the world’s largest exporter of LNG, Australia is now facing a series of challenges to maintain growth as depressed commodity prices and slumping demand for its high-priced gas from buyers in Asia-Pacific put pressure on investment. In response to the slowdown, private sector enterprises have slashed expenditure on upstre
Also in this section
5 March 2026
Gas is a central pillar of Colombia’s energy system, but declining production poses a significant challenge, and LNG will be increasingly needed as a stopgap. A recent major offshore gas discovery offers hope, but policy improvements are also required, Camilo Morales, secretary general of Naturgas, the Colombian gas association, tells Petroleum Economist
4 March 2026
The continent’s inventories were already depleted before conflict erupted in the Middle East, causing prices to spike ahead of the crucial summer refilling season
4 March 2026
The US president has repeatedly promised to lower gasoline prices, but this ambition conflicts with his parallel aim to increase drilling and could be upended by his war against Iran
4 March 2026
With the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed following US-Israel strikes and Iran’s retaliatory escalation, Fujairah has become the region’s critical pressure release valve—and is now under serious threat
