Despite this year’s rebound in seaborne LNG exports, it seems that Australia is going backwards, losing further ground to the US and Qatar. In its latest weekly report, shipbroker Banchero Costa said that “global seaborne LNG trade was rather flat in the last two years. Indeed, in 2024 there was no growth at all, with shipment volumes flat +0.0% y-o-y at 408.8 mln t. In Jan-Oct 2025, on the other hand, we saw a strong rebound, with global exports increasing by +5.2% yo-y to 353.8 mln t, from 336.4 mln t in Jan-Oct 2024. The largest exporter of LNG is now the USA, which accounted for 25.2% of shipments in Jan-Oct 2025, followed by Qatar with 19.3%, Australia with 18.6%, South-East Asia with 10.4%. In Jan-Oct 2025, the USA exported 89.1 mln tonnes of LNG, a +23.4% yo-y increase from 72.2 mln t shipped in Jan-Oct 2024. Qatar exported 68.2 mln tonnes in Jan-Oct 2025, up +6.4% y-o-y. Australia shipped 65.8 mln tonnes in Jan-Oct 2025, down -2.8% y-o-y. From South East Asia shipments declined -2.1% y-o-y to 36.8 mln t. Russia shipped 24.6 mln tonnes of LNG in Jan-Oct 2025, down -4.6% yo-y from 25.7 mln t in Jan-Oct 2024”.
According to Banchero Costa, “the European Union remains the world’s largest importer of LNG, accounting for 24.6% of global LNG imports. In Jan-Oct 2025, the EU imported 86.6 mln t, up +25.0% y-o-y from 69.3 mln t in Jan-Oct 2024 and also above the record 83.5 mln t in JanOct 2023. The United Kingdom imported 6.8 mln tonnes of LNG in Jan-Oct 2025, up +27.8% y-o-y from the 5.3 mln t in Jan-Oct 2024, but well below the 12.4 mln imported in Jan-Oct 2023. Japan imported 55.2 mln t in Jan-Oct 2025, down -0.2% y-o-y. Mainland China imported 54.2 mln tonnes of LNG in Jan-Oct 2025, down -16.6% y-o-y from 65.0 mln t in JanOct 2024. South Korea imported 40.2 mln t in Jan-Oct 2025, up +2.1% y-o-y. India imported 20.0 mln t in Jan-Oct 2025, down -7.4% y-o-y. Taiwan imported 19.9 mln t in JanOct 2025, up +11.2% y-o-y”.
“Australia was the top exporter of LNG in the world as recently as 2022. However, volumes have been quite static for a while, and Australia has been overtaken by the USA since 2023 and surprisingly also by Qatar in 2025. In the full year of 2024, Australia exported 81.7 mln tonnes of seaborne LNG, according to Refinitiv vessel tracking data, up +1.1% y-o-y. This accounted for 20.0% of global LNG shipments in 2024. In Jan-Oct 2025, exports from Australia declined by -2.8% y-o-y to 65.8 mln tonnes, from 67.7 mln t in the same period of 2024, accounting for 18.6% of global exports. Top export terminals in Australia are Gladstone (21.2 mln tonnes loaded in Jan-Oct 2025), Barrow Island (14.0 mln t), Dampier (13.7 mln t), Ashburton (8.5 mln t), Darwin (6.3 mln t), and Prelude FLNG (2.2 mln t)”, the shipbroker said.
“In terms of destinations for Australian LNG, it’s almost all northeast Asia. In Jan-Oct 2025, LNG exports from Australia to Mainland China declined by -23.9% y-o-y to 17.2 mln tonnes from 22.6 mln t in Jan-Oct 2024. This was the lowest volume on this route since 2017. China was now the destination for 26.1% of Australia’s LNG exports in Jan-Oct 2025, down from 33.4% in the Jan-Oct 2024 period. Volumes to Japan, on the other hand, increased by +4.7% y-o-y in Jan-Oct 2025 to 22.2 mln t, from 21.2 mln t in Jan-Oct 2024. Japan was the destination for 33.7% of Australian shipments this year. The third top destination was South Korea, which accounted for 19.0% of Australian LNG shipments in 2025. Shipments from Australia to South Korea surged by +28.4% y-o-y this year to 12.5 mln tonnes, an all-time record. To Taiwan volumes declined marginally by -3.2% y-o-y to 6.6 mln tonnes in Jan-Oct 2025. Volumes from Australia to South East Asia also declined by -9.8% y-oy to 6.1 mln tonnes in Jan-Oct 2025 from 6.8 mln t in Jan-Oct 2024”, Banchero Costa concluded.
Source: Hellenic Shipping News Worldwide
