Australian Gas and LNG Tracker

About 

IEEFA’s Australian Gas and LNG Tracker is an interactive data set to visualise Australia’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) infrastructure, demand and capacity outlook, and export flows. It is built by compiling data from a range of sources, including Kpler, ICIS, the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) and IEEFA analysis. 

(Updated: December 2025)

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Key Findings

Section 1: Australia’s LNG exports and Asia’s LNG imports both fell in 2025

Exports fall from Western Australia and Queensland  

Australia’s LNG export volumes fell in the first half (H1) of 2025, down 5% on the previous half year and 6% year on year. This was the lowest export volume in four years and the second lowest in almost six years. 

Exports to China, which in 2024 was the largest market for Australian LNG, fell by an astonishing 28% year on year, followed by Taiwan with a 13% decrease. This was partly offset by a 20% increase in exports to South Korea, a 6% increase to Japan, and a 38% increase to other markets (albeit from a lower base). 

The fall in exports year on year was primarily driven by Western Australia (down 10%) and Queensland (down 1%), and partly offset by a 1% increase in exports from the Northern Territory. Again, exports to China were a key driver, down by 43% and 13% from Western Australia and Queensland respectively. 

Falling Western Australian LNG exports partly reflects Woodside Energy’s decision to mothball one of the LNG trains at its North West Shelf plant. This train, with a capacity of 2.6 million tonnes per annum, accounted for about 3% of Australia’s LNG capacity. However, the magnitude of the fall in export volumes also indicates that LNG exports from other facilities fell, which may reflect declining production from legacy fields. 

In the first half of 2024, China overtook Japan to become Australia’s largest LNG export market. That was short-lived, however, and declining exports to China in FY2024-25 saw Japan regain its historic position as Australia’s largest market. South Korea’s share of Australian exports has also increased, particularly relative to previous years. 

Over the 2024-25 financial year, the largest markets for Australian gas were: Japan (1,504PJ or 27%), China (1,277PJ or 23%), the domestic market (925PJ or 16%), South Korea (738PJ or 13%), Taiwan (429PJ or 7.6%), and LNG exporters (350PJ or 6.2%).

A decline in LNG spot exports accounted for more than half of the fall in Australian exports in H1 2025, and were at their lowest level since the second half of 2019. However, despite the fall, spot exports still amounted to more than 500PJ of gas in just six months, equivalent to 24% of Australia’s total LNG exports (albeit marginally down on the share of spot exports over the past five years). 

Declining LNG contract exports accounted for about 40% of the fall in Australian exports in H1 2025. LNG contract exports are likely to fall further given the impending expiry of existing LNG contracts, mostly from 2030 on, unless new LNG contracts of significant value are signed in coming years. There have been no new LNG contracts signed by Australian LNG exporters since June 2025.

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Asian LNG imports drop in first half of 2025

Asian LNG imports (including to South and Southeast Asia) fell 7% year on year in the first half of 2025, the largest semi-annual fall over the period from 2010 to H1 2025. The second largest fall (of 6%) was in the first half of 2022, when LNG spot prices surged following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

Falling Chinese imports were a major driver of this downward trend, with China’s imports down 21% year on year. This drop led to imports in the first half of 2025 being the lowest in six years, reversing earlier increases that saw China become the largest importer globally. 

Beyond China, the more price-sensitive markets, primarily in South and Southeast Asia, saw demand falls of 11% and 5% year on year in the first half of 2025 respectively. 

LNG imports in Japan fell slightly year on year, continuing a longer-term trend of falling LNG demand. Japan was the largest importer in Asia in H1 2025 due to the fall in Chinese imports, but the future outlook suggests demand may continue to fall, particularly in the electricity sector. Several major nuclear generators in Hokkaido and Niigata have recently received gubernatorial support to restart operations, and it is anticipated that Japan’s new Prime Minister will accelerate the restart of idle nuclear generation.

South Korea and Taiwan’s imports increased marginally year on year. 

Australia remains the largest LNG supplier to Asia, with a 30% market share in the first half of 2025, up from 29% year on year. Australia’s market share grew despite Asia’s total imports of Australian LNG falling, reflecting the relative impact of larger falls in imports from other producers. In contrast to Australia, the volume of LNG imported from Qatar grew in 2025, with Qatar now the second largest supplier of LNG to Asia. 

More generally, the market share of most LNG suppliers increased, with the only major suppliers to see falling market share being Russia and the US. The US in particular saw Asian imports of its LNG falling almost 40% year on year in H1 2025, reducing its market share from 9% to just 6%. 

Australia’s share of Chinese imports fell marginally, down from 35% to 32% year on year, while Qatar’s grew significantly from 23% to 33%. This saw Qatar overtake Australia as China’s largest LNG supplier. 

In contrast, Australia remains Japan’s largest LNG supplier, accounting for over 40% of Japan’s imports in the first half of 2025. Qatar’s market share remains low, having fallen over the past decade. In H1 2025, Qatar supplied only 1.43 million tonnes of LNG, well below Australia’s supply of just over 13.5 million tonnes. The declining share of Qatari LNG in Japan’s import mix may reflect Qatar’s selling practices, which generally prohibit buyers from redirecting LNG into other markets. In recent years, Japanese LNG traders have on-sold increasingly large volumes of LNG into other markets.  

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Section 2: LNG exports continue to soak up the majority of Australian gas

Despite the fall in Australia’s LNG export volumes, the vast majority of Australia’s gas production is either exported or used to power export facilities. 

In FY2024-25, Australia produced 5,566PJ of gas, not including gas production that is used in upstream gas extraction (in other words, to power equipment used to extract more gas). Of this gas, 83% was used for the purposes of LNG exports, with the remaining 17% being supplied domestically.

In the first half of 2025, the volume of gas supplied domestically across Australia was 448PJ, down by 4PJ, equivalent to about 1%, year on year.

In eastern Australia, the share of gas production supplied domestically was 25% in the first half of 2025. While this remains largely unchanged from H1 2024, it is the lowest share since at least 2019.

In the Northern Territory, domestic gas supply accounted for just 3% of gas production (including gas transported from Commonwealth waters). The remaining 97% of gas production was used for export. (This excludes gas used in upstream gas extraction, as do all charts in this section.) 

Western Australian domestic supply remained largely unchanged in H1 2025. However, the share of domestic supply increased from 12% to about 14% due to declining gas production. 

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Domestic gas demand continues to fall

Eastern Australia

Gas consumption in eastern Australia presented a mixed picture in the 2024-25 financial year, with consumption up from LNG exporters and gas generators, but down from commercial, industrial and residential users. 

Over the period from FY2021-22 to FY2024-25, gas consumption from gas-fired electricity generators and from commercial, industrial and residential users fell. The volume of gas used in electricity generation has fallen materially over the past three years, with a net fall of 23PJ. The volume of gas used in electricity generation grew only in FY2024-25, but by significantly less than the falls in the previous years. 

Gas consumption by commercial and industrial users, and households, demonstrated the largest fall in demand in the three years, falling by 50 PJ. Consumption also fell in each year, continuing a longer-term trend of consistently falling demand.

In contrast, the LNG sector saw increased gas consumption in eastern Australia, with a net increase in gas consumption of 25PJ over the three years.

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Western Australia

In the first half of 2025, domestic gas consumption in Western Australia fell across large and other users year on year, but remained largely unchanged in the distribution (i.e. household and small commercial) segment. 

Demand among large users fell by more than 10PJ (6%) year on year. 

Electricity generators were a key driver of falling large user demand, with electricity consumption falling from 47PJ to 42PJ year on year. With the exception of 2021 to the middle of 2022, this was the lowest level of gas demand for generation in a six-month window since 2019. Meanwhile, renewable generation in Western Australia has grown from 9% of the mix in FY2018-19 to 18% in FY2023-24, with renewable generation in the South West Interconnected System reaching 39% in FY2024-25.

Spot gas prices fell from a peak of AU$9.40 per gigajoule in the second half of 2023 to AU$7 per gigajoule in H1 2025. While this reversed the previous growth trend, prices remain above historical levels. 

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Victoria continuing to supply the majority of eastern Australia domestic gas

Queensland remains vital for energy security in eastern Australia, which is increasingly reliant on it to meet winter peaks in the southern states. Seasonal patterns in gas flows to and from Queensland demonstrate the role played by Queensland gas producers. 

However, seasonal patterns in Queensland gas flows also reflect LNG pricing patterns, with higher LNG prices in Australia’s summer coinciding with periods in which Queensland is a net importer of gas from the southern states. Specifically, net flows out of Queensland to the south tend to increase in periods when LNG netback prices fall, and vice versa.

While seasonal supply from Queensland has been crucial, it was a net importer of gas from the southern states in FY2024-25, with net imports of almost 15PJ. This is the second highest net financial year import volume in the period since FY2020-21, with FY2021-22 net imports of almost 30PJ. In contrast, Queensland was a net supplier to the southern markets in FY2022-23 (3PJ) and 2023-24 (almost 15 PJ).

Over the longer term, Queensland’s exports to the southern states have largely been offset by imports (from January 2013 to June 2025). However, exports out of Queensland have been higher since 2015, when LNG exports commenced, with net exports to the southern states of about 76PJ from 2015 to June 2025.

The largest supplier of gas into the southern states has historically been Victoria. While Victoria consumes large amounts of its own gas production, it also exports large volumes to New South Wales, South Australia and Tasmania. Over the eight years to June 2025, Victoria exported almost 1,030PJ, equivalent to almost six years of Victorian consumption (based on 2024 actual consumption). To put this into context, net flows of Queensland gas to the southern states over that same period were just under 17PJ, less than 2% of Victorian supply in New South Wales, South Australia and Tasmania. 

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Section 3: The use of gas in Asia’s electricity mix 

Gas faces an uncertain future in Asia’s electricity mix, amid fierce competition from coal and renewable energy. 

Analysis of electricity data identifies a number of key themes that may provide insights into the likely future generation mix in Asia. (Click here for IEEFA’s analysis of broader gas demand trends in Asia.) 

Countries that have seen larger and faster-growing renewable generation have seen the share of coal generation fall. Most of these countries have also seen the share of gas in their electricity systems decline, or remain generally stable in China’s case, at the same time as coal generation has fallen. 

• China, the world’s largest coal user, has seen the share of coal fall from a peak of 81% in 2007 to 58% in 2024, with declines in each year since 2013. Meanwhile, wind and solar generation has boomed, growing rapidly from 3% in 2013 to 18% in 2024, and gas has remained effectively capped at around 3% of the mix.
• Australia has similarly seen a boom in renewables, with wind and solar generation growing from about 9% in 2017 to more than 29% in 2024. Over this same period, coal generation fell from 61% to just 45%, and gas generation fell from 21% to 17%.
• Japan’s coal and gas generation shares have both fallen, coinciding with increasing renewables and a large ramp-up of nuclear generation.
• In Pakistan, the share of gas generation has fallen from almost 45% to just 25% from 2018 to 2024, with coal falling from 2019 onwards. Since 2018, the share of wind and solar generation increased from 3% to almost 13%, with 25% of its utility-supplied electricity provided by solar generation in the first quarter of 2025. This reflects a large jump in solar capacity, with Pakistan importing a staggering 16.5 gigawatts of solar capacity in 2024 and more than 10 gigawatts in just the first four months of 2025. 

South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan are the only markets with high or growing gas generation that rely on LNG imports. They are all high-income countries, with per-capita GDP well above the levels across most of Asia. They also have high population density and small landmasses, which may explain their relatively slow rollout of renewables.

Coal generation appears to have outpaced gas generation in countries that have seen their own gas production decline. Generally, this likely reflects the lower cost of domestic gas relative to LNG exports, with declining domestic gas availability then resulting in a substitution of coal generation. 

• This is most evident in India, which saw the share of gas generation fall from more than 11% in 2011 to less than 3% in 2024 as the share of coal generation increased from 68% to 75%. Indian government data suggests the share of gas could be even lower, at less than 2% in the 2025 fiscal year.
• This trend has been repeated in other countries with declining gas production, such as Bangladesh, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines.
• In Malaysia, the share coal generation has flatlined in the past few years, following a prolonged period of growth. In contrast, the share of gas generation has fallen materially, from 80% in 2000 to 37% in 2024.
• Most of these countries have relatively low growth in renewable energy.
• Despite ambitious goals to increase gas generation, Vietnam has seen its share of generation fall from a peak of nearly 50% in 2010 to just 7% in 2024. In contrast, wind and solar generation has grown from less than 1% in 2018 to almost 13% in 2024, accounting for a larger share than gas. 
   

Thailand is relatively unique in the Asian energy mix, with relatively stable coal and gas generation over the past decade. Thailand, along with Bangladesh and Pakistan, is also the only low-income country to rely predominantly on gas generation, reflecting the fact that these countries have large, but dwindling, domestic gas reserves. That said, Thailand’s LNG imports fell by 13% year on year in the first half of 2025, a departure from the growth in previous years. 

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