energy.gov.au

Energy production

Energy production fell 5.5% in 2020-21, to 18,952 PJ. Coal accounted for 63% of Australia’s energy production in 2020-21, followed by natural gas at 30% of Australia’s energy production.

Australia is a substantial net exporter of energy, including coal and natural gas, with net exports equating to over two-thirds of production.

Australian energy production - by fuel type

The chart is a stacked area chart showing petajoules over time, in years. There are 5 series representing different fuel types. Black coal production is by far the biggest but declining in the last few years. Brown coal, Oil and LPG and Renewables production are very small by comparison. Natural gas is now increasing rapidly as of a decade ago, and continued driving the growth in production as black coal flattened off.

Australian energy balance

The chart is a line and stacked column chart, showing petajoules, in years. There are three series, with stacked columns of Consumption and Net exports together meeting Production, a line. Over the decades of the chart, Net exports have grown far faster than Production. Exports are now twice as big as Consumption, showing the reason why energy production has increased strongly. In 2020-21, Consumption and Net exports, and thus Production, declined notably.

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