LNG

Revenues from the Australia-Pacific LNG (APLNG) plant in Queensland for the quarter to the end of March declined amid the implementation of the sale of Australia's Origin Energy to Canadian and US funds, Brookfield Asset Management and Washington DC-based EIG.

Elixir Energy, the Australian exploration and production company with plans for a small-scale liquefaction plant using coal-seam gas to provide clean fuel for trucks in Mongolia, is making progress in its South Gobi Desert operations with prospective resources having almost doubled to 14.6 trillion cubic feet.

Australian LNG exporter Santos reported a boost in reserves and resources available for two of its liquefaction plants, the Gladstone facility on Curtis Island in Queensland and Darwin LNG in the Northern Territory.

The head of Royal Dutch Shell in Australia told the nation’s main energy conference that in the wake of the election result, which saw the conservative coalition returned to power, the industry had an opportunity to “plant the seeds of positive public debate” around energy.

Origin Energy, a shareholder in the Australia Pacific LNG plant in Queensland with Sinopec of China and ConocoPhillips, reported record revenue from its share of 33 cargoes shipped in the first quarter at an average price of US$10.84 per million British thermal units.

Origin said the selling price for first-quarter cargoes was 2 percent higher than the US$10.59 per MMBtu price in the fourth quarter of 2018 and 34 percent up on the average price of US$8.10 per MMBtu fetched in the first three months of 2018.

“JCC (long-term contract) prices softened in the early part of the quarter, as economic growth concerns and US sanction waivers for Iran helped ease oil market tightness. Prices have since recovered, driven by OPEC output cuts and further supply outages in Venezuela,” explained Origin in its quarterly activities report.

The APLNG cargoes shipped in the first quarter were only three more than the 30 that departed in the same three months of 2018.

The plant produces almost 9 million tonnes per annum from two Trains and 7.6MTPA is contracted to Sinopec, whose formal name is China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation.

Sydney-based Origin said its share of production from the APLNG plant at Curtis Island was 834,100 tonnes in the first quarter, a 3 percent rise on the 772,800 tonnes taken in the year-ago quarter.

Origin said its more than one-third share of APLNG sales brought in record revenue of A$763.9 million (US$540), a 53 percent increase compared with the A$499.9M earned in the same quarter of 2018.

Origin runs two divisions, Integrated Gas, including upstream coal-seam gas for LNG, and Energy Markets, its gas and electricity retail and wholesale business.

Domestic natural gas sales brought in A$75M in the quarter, down 17 percent from the previous quarter’s A$90M, though also lower than the year-ago period’s A$82.7M.

“Natural gas sales decreased 10 percent on the prior quarter, reflecting seasonal demand and the ending of short-term wholesale contracts in Queensland. This decline in sales was partly offset by more gas utilised in generation,” said Origin.

Origin Chief Executive Frank Calabria said the APLNG plant continued to deliver strong earnings.

“This result was driven by continued reliable operational performance and higher realised commodity prices,” explained Calabria.

“In the Energy Markets business, our power stations performed solidly over the summer and were ready and available during heatwave conditions which occurred across much of the country in January and again in March,” he added.

“While gas sales to wholesale customers declined in the quarter, we directed additional gas to generation where it helped to meet peak summer demand in the electricity market,” stated the CEO.