Australia's oil and gas market
The exploration and production of commodities in the petroleum sector is predominately based in Western Australia. The Carnarvon and Perth Basins in this region produced thousands of megaliters of crude oil. In terms of natural gas, billions of cubic meters were produced across the entire country. Australia produces more natural gas than it consumes; the population only consumed about a third of the production volume.Australia has been competing with Qatar and the United States as the world’s biggest LNG exporter. With increasing global demand, the export volume of LNG has continued to increase over the past decade, only slightly dipping in 2021. Australia’s biggest LNG export markets included Japan, China, and South Korea in 2018.
In contrast, the crude oil export volume has fluctuated over the past decade. The properties of Australian oil tend to be more suited to export markets. Therefore, Australia imports a significant volume of crude oil for its own refinery processes.
