Origin Energy Revenue Slips Despite Higher Output

   By Robb M. Stewart 
 

MELBOURNE, Australia--Origin Energy Ltd. (ORG.AU), one of Australia's largest combined energy generators and retailers, said Friday its first-quarter revenue remained under pressure from weaker prices despite the continued ramp-up in production.

Sales revenue totaled 224.5 Australian dollars (US$158.8 million) in the three months through September, down 1% on the prior quarter and 10% below the A$250.5 million generated a year earlier, the company said Friday.

Production was 13% higher on-quarter and up 37% year-on-year at 47.8 petajoules equivalent, a measure of the volume of different petroleum products based on energy content. Sales volumes were 18% higher than in the previous quarter and up 35% on last year.

The jump in output reflected the push in volumes at the A$24.7 billion Australia Pacific liquefied natural gas project on Australia's east coast ahead of its first export shipment, as well as the start of production at the Yolla 5 and Yolla 6 wells in Australia's Bass Basin.

Still, that was offset by lower oil prices for the period and a lower realized average price for natural gas from the APLNG project. The first production of gas into LNG at the plant is expected within the next month and the first cargo is likely to be shipped a few weeks later, Origin said.

Origin swung to a loss in its last financial year, hit by lower oil prices and impairment charges. It this month tapped investors for A$2.5 billion via an equity raising to help pay down a mountain of debt built up investing in gas projects, part of a plan that also called for a cut to its dividend payout and up to A$800 million in asset sales by mid-2017.

Origin and ConocoPhillips have equal 37.5% stakes in the APLNG project, which will convert methane trapped in seams of underground coal into chilled natural gas, and Sinopec has a 25% interest.

Write to Robb M. Stewart at [e-mail]

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October 29, 2015 20:29 ET (00:29 GMT)

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