Australia in Sweet Spot to Meet Asia Demand for Ultra-Light Oil

SINGAPORE, June 22 (Reuters) - Australia is in pole position to capture a bigger piece of the growing Asian condensate market, with producers pumping new supplies of the ultra-light oil as natural gas output soars to feed the nation's mega LNG projects.

An Australian wave of liquefied natural gas supply has helped pull Asian LNG prices down by 75 percent since 2014 <LNG-AS>, so selling more lucrative condensate to Asian buyers could give a lifeline to less profitable projects.

Australia's Ichthys LNG export project, for instance, operated by Japan's Inpex Corp, could produce more than 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) of condensate when it starts up next year.

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