Natural gas is formed when accumulations of organic matter are buried and subjected to increased heat and pressure over geological time. The gas generated consists of a mixture of methane and often other heavy hydrocarbons, as well as other gases including carbon dioxide, nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide, and helium.

Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) is natural gas that is cooled to a temperature below 162°C, a process that is usually done for gas export purposes because it reduces the volume of gas transported.

Australia has significant conventional gas resources, the largest of which are located offshore, and significant unconventional gas resources onshore.

Australia is the seventh largest gas producer in the world.

LNG exports have increased dramatically over the past decade, with several new facilities starting production including Wheatstone, Ichthys and Prelude. In 2020, Qatar and Australia were the world's largest LNG exporters.

Summary

australia gas

Australia has significant gas resources (Figure 1 and Figure 2). In this report, “gas resources” refers to both conventional and unconventional gas resources, including coal contact gas (CSG), shale gas, tight gas, basin-centric gas, and in-situ gasification products. Conventional gas and coal gas remain Australia's most important gas resources for production and trade.

Australia's identified conventional gas resources have grown exponentially, increasing fivefold since the discovery of the giant (>10 trillion cubic feet "Tcf") and giant (>3 trillion cubic feet) gas fields in the Northwest Shelf in the early 1970s. About 93 percent of conventional gas resources are located in the northwest quay. Gas produced from the North Carnarvon, Surf and Bonaparte Basins provides feedstock for seven LNG projects (Gorgon, Wheatstone, Northwest Shelf, Pluto, Prelude, Echthys and Darwin).

CSG is largely methane extracted from shallow coal seams (<1500 m depth) using hydraulic stimulation. Most of Australia's CSG resources are produced in Queensland, where they form the feedstock for three major LNG projects (Curtis Island LNG, Australia Pacific LNG and Gladstone LNG).

Other significant potential for unconventional gas sources exists in onshore basins, including from deep LPG, shale gas, tight gas, basin-centric gas resources and from on-site gasification. The production of these unconventional gas resources has been limited to small shale gas and narrow gas in the Copper Basin, which supplied some of the gas to the East Coast gas market (Santos, 2018).

Gas resources are reported as best estimate of reserves (2P) and best estimate of contingent resources (2C) using the SPE-Petroleum Resource Management System. Reserves are commercially recoverable quantities of petroleum still in known accumulations, of which 2P reserves are the best estimate (total proven reserves plus probable reserves). Australia's 2P reserves in 2019 are estimated at 74,992 petajoules (PJ; 66.69 trillion cubic feet) for conventional gas and 31,597 PJ (29.79 trillion cubic feet) for unconventional gas (Table 1 and Table 2; Figure 1 and Figure 2). With annual gas production rates for 2019 of 6,245 Picoules, which is equivalent to 17 years of production for all gas reserves.

Contingent resources are quantities of oil that can be recovered in known accumulations, of which 2C of contingent resources is the best estimate. Contingent resources have not yet been considered commercially recoverable as a result of one

Gas production in general has increased significantly, primarily driven by the rapid expansion of the Australian LNG industry on the western and eastern coasts. These gas projects feed the domestic market and the international export market. About 74 percent of natural gas production was exported in 2018-2019. Australia and Qatar are currently the world's largest LNG exporters.