Origin Energy Limited (Origin) advises it has received notice that ConocoPhillips has exercised its pre-emption rights in relation to Origin’s sale of a 10 per cent shareholding in Australia Pacific LNG to EIG for $2.12 billion, which was announced on 25 October 2021.

The other shareholder in Australia Pacific LNG, Sinopec, has until 17 December to exercise its respective pro-rata pre-emption rights.

ConocoPhillips’ acquisition will be subject to approval by the Foreign Investment Review Board.

Origin and ConocoPhillips will retain their existing seats on the Australia Pacific LNG board. Origin’s divestment also does not change the company’s role as upstream operator, responsible for the upstream exploration, development, and production activities. If ConocoPhillips and/or Sinopec successfully exercise their pre-emptive rights and the transaction with EIG does not proceed, the Origin guarantee to satisfy any cash calls made by Australia Pacific LNG in respect of the 10 per cent shareholding will cease to apply.

Origin CEO Frank Calabria said “Australia Pacific LNG is a world-class LNG asset and the value realised from this transaction is due to the hard work and dedication of the joint venture and its shareholders over many years. We look forward to continuing to work with our partners to ensure Australia Pacific LNG maintains its strong performance and can continue to meet the needs of our LNG customers in Asia and to domestic customers as the largest supplier of gas on Australia’s east coast.”

About Origin

Origin Energy (ASX: ORG) is the leading Australian integrated energy company. Origin is the leading energy retailer with approximately 4.2 million customer accounts, has approximately 6,000 MW of power generation capacity and is also a large natural gas producer. Origin is the upstream operator of Australia Pacific LNG, its incorporated joint venture with ConocoPhillips and Sinopec, which supplies natural gas to domestic markets and exports LNG under long term contracts.

About ConocoPhillips

Headquartered in Houston, Texas, ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) had operations and activities in 14 countries, $87 billion of total assets, and approximately 9,900 employees at Sept. 30, 2021. Production excluding Libya averaged 1,514 MBOED for the nine months ended Sept. 30, 2021, and proved reserves were 4.5 BBOE as of Dec. 31, 2020.