APLNG pushes Origin production

PERTH (miningweekly.com) – With the start of shipments from the Australia Pacific liquefied natural gas (APLNG) project in January, producer Origin Energy on Friday reported a 12% increase in production for the three months to March 31, compared with the previous quarter.

Origin reported production of 60.9 petajoules equivalent (PJe) during the quarter, which was also a 65% increase on the previous corresponding period’s product.

Sales for the quarter were up by 20% on the previous quarter, to 60.1 PJe, while revenue increased by 49%, from A$212.2-million to A$316.4-million.

“The start of LNG exports from APLNG made a strong contribution to Origin’s overall production and sales results during the quarter,” said Origin integrated gas CEO David Baldwin.

He noted that daily production rates from APLNG’s first production train had exceeded design nameplate capacity of 4.5-million tonnes a year, and first cargo from the project’s second production train was expected during the first half of the 2017 financial year.

The APLNG project comprised two processing trains, each with a 4.5-million-tonne-a-year nameplate production capacity.

Some 8.6-million tonnes a year of LNG production from APLNG had been committed under long-term take-or-pay contracts with Sinopec, in China, and Kansai, in Japan.

Baldwin said on Friday that, given the strong operational performance from the first train at APLNG, Origin was expecting to recognise revenue from the first train from March 1. As a result, Origin's LNG underlying earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation for the 2016 financial year were expected to increase from between A$30-million and A$80-million, to between A$100-million and A$150-million.