Sydney Morning Herald: Origin Energy Expects APLNG Start-up 'Within a Month'

Origin Energy has confirmed November as the date for the long-awaited start-up of its $24.7 billion Australia Pacific Liquefied Natural Gas project in Queensland, making it the third of the state's huge gas export projects to begin production this year.

Origin's head of integrated gas, David Baldwin, said the first LNG cargo would be shipped from the plant in Gladstone "a few weeks thereafter".

The news of the milestones came in a quarterly production report that saw Origin's oil and gas output rise 13 per cent in the September quarter from the June quarter, to the equivalent of 47.8 petajoules. Revenues still slid by 1 per cent to $224.5 million because of lower prices.

Ahead of the start-up the APLNG venture is selling some gas to fellow Queensland LNG exporter BG Group, but the prices are linked to oil and include a fixed component that allows BG to make a return on its export venture. That makes those sales to BG's Queensland Curtis project "barely profitable," Macquarie analyst Ian Myles noted. MORE