Origin Energy Flags Further A$1.17 Billion Impairment Hit for Fiscal 2nd Half

MELBOURNE, Australia--Origin Energy Ltd. (ORG.AU) said it would take hefty impairment charges against its stake in the Australia Pacific LNG gas-export venture in eastern Australia and against the conventional natural-gas assets it is spinning off.

In a statement Thursday, the energy company said it expected to book a 815 million Australian dollars (US$642.9 million) charge in the second half of the fiscal year following a review of the carrying value of APLNG's assets, largely reflecting reduced oil-price assumptions. It also expects a A$357 million charge for the Lattice Energy unit it aims to sell by the end of 2017.

Together with charges taken against its first-half results, Origin said it expected total impairment charges for the 12 months through June of A$3.1 billion.

A year ago, Origin narrowed its net loss for fiscal 2016 to A$589 million from A$658 million the year before.

Write to Robb M. Stewart at robb.stewart@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 09, 2017 19:11 ET (23:11 GMT)