Origin shares higher despite 11% quarterly APLNG revenue decline

Origin Energy Ltd (ASX: ORG) shares are edging higher on Monday.

At the time of writing, the energy giant’s shares are up slightly to $8.53.

Why are Origin shares rising?

Origin shares are rising on Monday after the company released its fourth-quarter update.

According to the release, the company’s Integrated Gas business saw its Australia Pacific LNG (APLNG) quarterly revenue fall 11% compared to the prior corresponding period despite improved production due to lower realised oil prices.

However, that couldn’t stop APLNG’s revenue from increasing 21% for FY 2023. So, it wasn’t all bad news.

In addition, the company revealed that it received cash distributions of $1,489 million from APLNG.

In the Energy Markets business, the company’s electricity sales volumes increased by 1% year on year for FY 2023. This was driven by an increase in business volumes from customer wins, which offset lower usage from retail customers.

There was no mention of the company’s Energy Markets earnings guidance for FY 2023 following May’s upgrade. However, it is likely to be a case of no news is good news, with Origin seemingly on track to achieve its upgraded FY 2023 Energy Markets underlying EBITDA guidance of between $950 million and $1,200 million.

Management commentary

Origin’s CEO, Frank Calabria, was pleased with the fourth quarter. He said:

I’m pleased to report strong operational performance across both our Integrated Gas and Energy Markets businesses. In Queensland, our teams worked hard to bring more wells online and optimise well performance, and this drove a recovery in gas production, following the impacts of wet weather in prior periods.

Improved production has enabled Australia Pacific LNG to continue to meet the gas needs of export customers and provide a major contribution to the domestic market. Australia Pacific LNG delivered a higher cash distribution to Origin for FY2023. In Energy Markets there was a small increase in electricity volumes this year due to higher business sales, and a small decrease in gas volumes, primarily due to less gas needed for power generation. It’s pleasing to see Origin’s generation fleet continuing to operate to high levels of reliability to support the needs of the market.