ORG Origin Energy Limited

   By Robb M. Stewart 
 

MELBOURNE, Australia--The big Australia Pacific LNG project on Australia's east cost delivered higher-than-expected annual cash flows for co-owner Origin Energy Ltd. (ORG.AU) as increased commodity prices more than offset steady production.

Origin's share of sales revenue from APLNG rose by 36% for the financial year, translating to 943 million Australian dollars (US$648.2 million) in cash flow, better than the A$850 million the company had previously forecast.

Revenue from the project was A$2.79 billion for the year through June, compared with A$2.05 billion the year before.

Production from APLNG totalled 254.7 petajoules, a measure of the volume of different petroleum products based on their energy content, little changed on 253.6 petajoules the prior year after planned outages in gas-processing facilities for maintenance in 2019.

Origin, one of Australia's leading energy retailers, is responsible for coal-seam gas fields in eastern Australia that supply the A$24.7 billion APLNG plant on Curtis Island off Queensland state, which is operated by ConocoPhillips (COP) and also counts Sinopec as a partner. Origin also runs a fleet of coal- and gas-fired power stations around the country and has pushed into solar farms and other forms of renewable energy.

Origin's shares of output from APLNG was 64 petajoules in the final quarter of the financial year, flat on the same period the year before, while revenue was 13% higher at A$643.4 million.

The company said its energy markets arm sold 8.7 terawatt hours of electricity in the fourth quarter, a drop of 4.4% on the same period the year before. Natural gas sales were 11% higher quarter-over-quarter at 65.1 petajoules, but down 16% on the same quarter a year earlier.

Write to Robb M. Stewart at robb.stewart@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 30, 2019 19:14 ET (23:14 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.