PLATTS - The International Energy Agency expects the US to account for 75% of the global growth in natural gas exports over the next five years, a bullish outlook for LNG developers facing challenges at home getting projects off the ground and abroad with tariffs affecting trade flows.

REUTERS - Australian oil and gas firm Santos Ltd said on Wednesday it has agreed to buy privately held Quadrant Energy for at least $2.15 billion, bagging access to what may be the biggest oil find off Western Australia in over two decades.

PLATTS - ExxonMobil's planned LNG import project in Victoria will compete with AGL's planned LNG import terminal in the same state -- at Crib Point near Melbourne -- projected to come online by financial year 2020-2021, and AIE's project next door in the state of New South Wales, potentially at Port Kembla, Newcastle or Port Botany, expected by as early as 2020.

REUTERS - The issue comes down to how quickly to build a shared infrastructure system that would include a major trunk pipeline for transporting gas from mammoth new offshore fields owned by various companies in northwest Australia.

REUTERS - Chevron Corp has started producing liquefied natural gas (LNG) at the second unit of its $34 billion Wheatstone development, marking the completion of its two megaprojects in Australia after cost-blowouts and delays.

BLOOMBERG - Gross domestic product advanced 1 percent from the prior quarter, with overseas shipments accounting for half the expansion, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said in Sydney Wednesday. Economists had forecast a 0.9 percent gain. The economy expanded at an annual pace of 3.1 percent, also beating estimates for a 2.8 percent increase.

REUTERS - The $54 billion Gorgon project came on stream in March 2016 but suffered numerous unplanned shutdowns in its early stages.

REUTERS - Australian gas producer Santos Ltd (STO.AX) said on Tuesday it would “engage with” Harbour Energy after receiving a $10.4 billion takeover offer from the U.S. company, its fourth unsolicited bid since August 2017.

GT - Santos and its GLNG partners—Petronas, Total and KOGAS—will make a massive capital investment of $900 million in upstream developments in the Maranoa, Western Downs, Central Highlands and Banana regions in Queensland this year.

TWA - The Gorgon and Wheatstone LNG projects are now enjoying cash margins of more than $US30 a barrel at a $US50 price, Chevron says, and production from the $111 billion mega-projects is expected to increase this year.