October LNG volumes were 3.4pc above the 7.06mn t shipped in September, which was revised from the original estimate of 7.09mn t and above the 6.97mn t in October last year, according to trade data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) processed by GTT.

October's LNG exports included 2.06mn t from the port of Gladstone in eastern Australia. The three LNG plants at Gladstone accounted for around 28pc of total Australian shipments for the month and stood at a 10-month high for the port's LNG exports.

A further 1.68mn t were shipped from Port Dampier in Western Australia in October, down from 1.71mn t in September, according to data from the Pilbara Ports Authority. The 16.3mn t/yr North West Shelf (NWS) LNG and the 4.3mn t/yr Pluto LNG both ship through Port Dampier. October export volumes through Port Dampier reflect the plants operating at a utilisation rate of 98.2pc of combined nameplate capacity.

Combined shipments from Gladstone and Port Dampier totalled 3.74mn t. This implies that the remaining five LNG plants in Australia shipped 3.56mn t in October or 5pc above their combined monthly nameplate capacity of 3.39mn t.

Australia remained the top supplier of China's LNG imports in October, accounting for 2.47mn t or 40.1pc of China's total LNG receipts of 6.17mn t for the month.

Australian LNG shipments to Japan were lower in October from September.

The average export price for Australian LNG of $566.35/t in October rose from an average of $530.40/t in September and more than doubled from the average of $225.34/t in October 2020, and was the highest average monthly export price since the ABS started publishing monthly LNG export volumes in July 2015. This was based on a US-Australian dollar exchange rate of $0.7403 for October used by the ABS.

The volume of LNG combined with the relatively high export prices accounted for Australian LNG export receipts of A$5.58bn in October.

The Argus-assessed LNG fob Australia averaged $35.16/t in October, up from $24.30/t in September, and six times above the October 2020 monthly average of $5.86/t and was also the highest assessed Australian LNG export price for a monthly period since the ABS started publishing monthly LNG export volumes.