FACT CHECK: do Australians pay more for Australian gas than LNG buyers?

It is often claimed that Australians pay more for gas than do the overseas buyers of our LNG. Is this true? EnergyQuest tracks the landed price of Australian LNG in our three major markets, Japan, China and Korea. These are landed prices, prior to the cost of regasification, pipeline transport and profit margins in the importing country. The average landed price of Australian LNG in China in 2019-20 was US$8.30/MMBtu or A$11.66/GJ, in Japan it was US$9.77/MMBtu or A$13.72/GJ, in Korea it was US$8.74/MMBtu or A$12.27/GJ. The weighted average was US$9.01/MMBtu or A$12.66/GJ. These prices are all above average Australian wholesale domestic prices, even on the east coast, let alone the west coast. Over the last year LNG prices have come down by between US$0.43 (Japan) and US$1.12/MMBtu (Korea) in line with lower oil and spot LNG prices and so have domestic prices. For regular updates on Asian prices see our Monthly LNG Report: https://www.energyquest.com.au/monthly-lng-report/