CANBERRA, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Australia's liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports have hit a record high on the back of strong demand from China, according to a top energy consultant.

Figures released by consultancy firm EnergyQuest revealed that Australia exported 56.8 million tons (Mt) of LNG in the calendar year 2017, up 26.3 percent from 2016.

While the volume of gas exported rose only 26.3 percent, the revenue generated by the exports rose 44.1 percent on the back of high prices to 20.49 billion U.S. dollars.

Graeme Bethune, Chief Executive Officer of EnergyQuest, said growth in demand from China was the stand-out success story, telling Xinhua that export to China grew 40.5 percent in 2017 to account for 31 percent of Australia's total exports.

Exports to other Asian countries also increased significantly in 2017 with the amount shipped to Japan up 18.1 percent and South Korea becoming the third-largest market for Australian LNG.

He said that despite speculation that Australia could not continue to export so much gas, many gas projects were either not operating at full capacity in 2017 or had not yet begun operation.

"The current high rate is certainly sustainable because (Western Australia's) Gorgon gas project is yet to achieve plateau production," Bethune told Xinhua on Wednesday.

"Wheatstone LNG is just starting up and two further projects, Ichthys and Prelude will not be coming into production until later this year."

Australian Prime Minister (PM) Malcolm Turnbull threatened to curb gas exports in September, saying too much of Australia's LNG was being exported while states endured a shortfall, and has not ruled out doing so in the future.

However, Bethune said his opinion was that the controls on gas exports would not be imposed.

The record 2017 means that Australia is the second biggest exporter of LNG in the world, trailing only Qatar.