In its latest report on Australian commodities, the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics added that LNG export volumes fell from 4.5 million tonnes in the December quarter to 4.2 million tonnes in the March quarter.

The fall in LNG export volumes and earnings could add to worries that LNG demand has fallen.

FACTS Global Energy Group chief executive officer Fereidun Fesharaki had earlier this week told reporters at the sidelines of the 14th Asia Oil & Gas Conference in Kuala Lumpur that there would be an excess supply of LNG in the Asia-Pacific region by year-end.

He added there would also be oversupply in the first half of 2010 as all LNG trains would be fully operational.

However, companies developing or planning LNG projects in Australia appear to be taking a long-term view of demand for the super-cooled gas with ConocoPhillips senior vice president for international exploration and production Ryan Lance saying during the APPEA 2009 conference in Darwin last week that demand for LNG would increase once the economic recession ended, due to concerns about climate change and CO2.

Petronas chief executive officer Hassan Marican was also upbeat about LNG demand, telling Malaysian newspaper the Star that while there would be deferments of cargo from traditional buyers in North Asia, there was demand for LNG from China.

He added that contracts that were deferred earlier were now being recalled as the global economy stabilised.

ABARE also reported that crude oil and condensate production in the March 2009 quarter was down 9% to 6.9 gigalitres due to bad weather off the northwest coast while gas production was down 4% to about 9.7 billion cubic metres.

This was partly offset by an increase in crude oil production from the Cooper-Eromanga Basin in South Australia and gas production from the Fairview coal seam gas field in Queensland.

Export earnings from crude oil fell by 27% during the same period to $A1.6 billion in line with the 18% drop in the country's export earnings from energy and mineral resources to $38.7 billion.

"The decrease in export earnings reflects softer world prices and lower export volumes for most commodities," ABARE executive director Phillip Glyde said in a statement.