据路透社布里斯班报道，周四，美国能源巨头埃克森美孚表示，随着全球最大的液化天然气（LNG）出口国澳大利亚努力填补迫在眉睫的天然气短缺，向该国进口液化天然气似乎“非常现实”。

专家们表示，这项评估将增强该行业的紧迫感，该行业需要至少100亿澳元（合69亿美元）的新发展，以满足长期的天然气需求，并降低令许多制造商陷入瘫痪的高油价。

就在一年前，许多人还认为向澳大利亚进口液化天然气是不合理的，但预计到2022年就会出现短缺，目前有五项进口提案摆在桌面上，其中一项来自埃克森美孚。

埃克森美孚澳大利亚新任董事长Nathan Fay在一次行业会议上表示：“鉴于需求增长的性质和供应前景，至少在一段时间内，液化天然气进口终端看起来非常现实。”

Fay称，埃克森美孚及其合作伙伴必和必拓集团是东南天然气市场的主要供应商，进口将补充吉普斯兰盆地海上油田的进一步发展。

澳大利亚东北部三家液化天然气出口厂的启动消耗了当地市场的天然气，也导致了价格的上涨，因为大部分新的供应来自成本较高的煤层气井。

与此同时，由于满足南方各州约40%需求的海上油田正在枯竭，而东南部维多利亚州和新南威尔士州的钻探禁令限制了以填补缺口的新供应。

除此之外，制造商正在遭受损失

澳大利亚竞争监管机构周四在其关于东海岸天然气市场的最新报告中警告说，如果供应没有改善，价格没有下降，依赖天然气的制造商将关闭。

天然气危机的最新受害者是墨尔本一家老化工厂，为陶氏化学公司旗下子公司，该公司本周表示工厂将关闭，部分原因是天然气价格高昂。

澳大利亚竞争和消费者委员会（ACCC）表示，在此之前，悉尼一家聚苯乙烯咖啡杯子制造商和昆士兰州一家砖和粘土摊铺机制造商也经历了关闭，这两家制造商都将部分归咎于高昂的天然气价格。

澳大利亚政府敦促东海岸出口商将更多的天然气用于国内，目前，制造商的天然气价格约为每千兆焦耳9到11澳元，虽然这个价格是两年前的一半，但却是五年前的三倍多。

ACCC主席罗德·西姆斯在会议上告诉记者：“我认为，许多制造工厂只要天然气的价格在每千兆焦耳7美元就能生存下来，但是问题是，如果这个价格不尽快实现，他们就会面临关闭的可能。”

但是，分析人士表示，考虑到液化天然气的运输距离，进口液化天然气不太可能如此便宜，因此需要新的当地供应，以确保供应的确定性，并可能降低价格。

詹晓晶摘自路透社

原文如下：

ExxonMobil backs LNG imports to world's biggest exporter

Imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Australia - the world’s biggest LNG exporter - now appear “highly realistic” as the country struggles to fill a looming gas shortage, U.S. energy giant Exxon Mobil Corp said on Thursday.

The assessment will add to the sense of urgency in the industry, which experts say needs at least A$10 billion ($6.9 billion) in new developments to meet longer term gas demand and bring down high prices that are crippling many manufacturers.

As recently as a year ago, many thought importing LNG to Australia would be irrational, but shortages are expected as soon as 2022 and there are now five import proposals on the table, including one from ExxonMobil.

“Just given the nature of growth in demand and where the outlook for supply is, at least for a period LNG import terminals look highly realistic,” Exxon Mobil’s new chairman for Australia, Nathan Fay, told an industry conference.

Exxon Mobil and its partner BHP Group are the dominant suppliers into the southeastern gas market, and imports would be complementary to further development of offshore fields in the Gippsland Basin, Fay said.

The start-up of three LNG export plants in northeastern Australia has sapped gas from the local market and also led to higher prices, as most of the new supply is from higher cost coal seam gas wells.

At the same time, drilling bans in the southeastern states of Victoria and New South Wales have curbed new supply to fill a gap as the offshore fields that meet about 40 percent of the southern states’ needs are drying up.

MANUFACTURERS SUFFER

If supply doesn’t improve and prices fail to come down, manufacturers dependent on gas will shut, Australian competition regulator warned on Thursday in its latest report on the east coast gas market.

The latest casualty of the gas crunch was an ageing chemicals plant in Melbourne, which a unit of Dow Inc said this week it would be shutting, partly due to high gas prices.

That followed the closure of a maker of polystyrene coffee cups in Sydney and a brick and clay paver maker in Queensland, both of which partly blamed high gas prices, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said.

Gas prices to manufacturers are now around A$9 to A$11 per gigajoule (GJ), or half the price they were two years ago after the government pushed east coast exporters to release more gas for domestic purposes, but prices are still more than triple the level manufacturers paid five years ago.

“I think at A$7 gas many of the manufacturing plants can survive. The problem is if they don’t get that soon, they just won’t be here,” ACCC Chairman Rod Sims told reporters at the conference.

However, analysts said imported LNG was unlikely to be this cheap given the distance it has to travel, with new local supplies needed to bring certainty of supply and potentially cheaper prices.