Origin Energy’s gas revenue increases on strong global demand

Booming international oil and gas prices resulted in another huge revenue boost for Origin Energy in the last three months of 2022, but now calls are growing to sell more gas in the domestic market, where producers are facing new price caps.

Origin’s APLNG venture in Queensland, the largest gas producer on the East Coast, saw sales revenue increase 42 percent to $3.1 billion in the December quarter compared to the same period last year.

The company also announced that it had delivered three replacement shipments of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the North Asian spot market, where one-off shipments were selling at historically high average prices of over US$30 per million UK thermal units during the period, boosting the market sales proceeds.

Queensland’s LNG industry is under pressure to do more to serve the local market. Last week, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) again warned of possible gas supply shortages on the east coast later this year, noting that LNG exporters have ample non-contracted supplies to avert a domestic shortage but have not yet committed enough under “firm contracts” to local buyers.

APLNG, which jointly owns Origin with U.S. company ConocoPhillips and Chinese company Sinopec, was a major gas supplier on the East Coast throughout the quarter, selling the fuel at an average local price of $6.31 per gigajoule — less than half its average LNG price. APLNG supplies about 30 percent of the East Coast’s gas needs each year.

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“APLNG continued to be a key supplier to the domestic market, supplying 31.6 petajoules of gas to Australian companies during the quarter at average prices well below those paid by international customers,” said Frank Calabria, Chief Executive of Origin.

However, representatives of industrial gas buyers in the manufacturing sector, where gas is needed for energy and as a feedstock, have stepped up calls for the LNG giants to urgently secure more fixed-price supply contracts and honor their commitments to the domestic market.

“Clearly there is sufficient supply in the market, but not all available gas is being offered,” said Andrew Richards of the Energy Users Association of Australia, whose membership includes manufacturers such as Incitec Pivot, Qenos and Brickworks.