Origin Energy's third-quarter APLNG revenue slips on lower production, realised prices (updated)

Origin Energy

26/04/2026 23:53

Third-quarter revenue from APLNG stake falls 17%

Co cuts FY26 earnings view from Octopus Energy stake

Shares fall as much as 4.5% to more than one-week low

Updates throughout, adds analyst comment in paragraph 8, latest share moves in paragraph 2

April 27 (Reuters) - Australia's Origin Energy ORG.AX reported a 17% drop in third-quarter revenue from its stake in the Australia Pacific LNG project on Monday and warned of an annual loss from its share in Britain's Octopus Energy.

Shares of the country's top electricity and gas retailer by market value fell as much as 4.5% to A$12.20, their lowest level in more than a week, and were last trading 3.7% lower, as of 0416 GMT.

Origin reported commodity revenue of A$481 million ($344.97 million) from its share in the Australia Pacific LNG (APLNG) project in Queensland for the March quarter, down 17% from last year and 9% sequentially.

That was mainly due to lower production at the flagship liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, reflecting two fewer days in the quarter and declining output from ageing gas fields, which also impacted sales.

Origin said total production from its shares in the project fell 3% sequentially to 45.2 petajoules (PJ), while total sales declined 6% to 43.8 PJ.

The war in the Middle East has upended oil and LNG supply and sparked volatility in global commodity markets. However, Origin's long-term export contracts mean oil price movements take time to filter through.

"Changes in oil prices have a lagged effect on Australia Pacific LNG's long-term export contracts, and we do not expect this to flow through to results until FY27," CEO Frank Calabria said.

"The market is selling the near-term signal - a sequential APLNG revenue drop in a volatile LNG environment is enough to cloud the outlook regardless of long-term contract protection," said Hebe Chen, a market analyst at Vantage Markets.

Origin also warned annual operating earnings from its share in Octopus Energy, Britain's largest electricity supplier by market share, could range from a loss of A$70 million to a profit of A$30 million, sharply below its earlier forecast of A$0 to A$150 million.

"This is primarily due to impacts from UK regulatory changes as well as adverse weather in February and March in the UK," Calabria said.

($1 = 1.3943 Australian dollars)

 (Reporting by Shivangi Lahiri, Rajasik Mukherjee, Sameer Manekar, and Shruti Agarwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Christian Schmollinger, Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Subhranshu Sahu)

 ((Shruti.Agarwal@thomsonreuters.com))