What glut?
Another rise in LNG exports in 2017 will cause unexpected problems in Australia's domestic market
Australia has been a fascinating study for liquefied natural gas-industry watchers for the past six years. On the east coast, three LNG mega-projects sprung up in the small regional Queensland city of Gladstone, based on the world-first use of coal-seam reservoirs. It was also the first time LNG projects had been developed in a domestic market in any country. Somewhat remarkably, the construction phase of the boom will give way, with relatively few hiccups, to a production phase in 2017, when all the new mega-projects (except Shell's Prelude) will be commissioned. Total Australian LNG production will rise sharply, to 54m tonnes a year. The experiment, though, is not over yet. Going into 2017
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