Origin Contact Merger - Origin Energy Fact Sheet

Attachment 3 - Fact Sheet - Origin Energy Limited

Origin Energy is a major Australasian integrated energy company focussed on gas and oil exploration and production, energy retailing, power generation and utility network management.

As both a producer and retailer of energy, Origin Energy’s strengths come from its integration across the supply chain. Origin Energy’s portfolio of assets provides flexibility and significant opportunities for growth in the ever changing energy industry.

Since Origin Energy was listed on the Australian Stock Exchange in 2000, our revenues have grown threefold and market capitalisation has increased from less that $1 billion to over $5.5 billion.

As well as the business segments described below Origin Energy owns a 51.4% interest in Contact Energy of New Zealand. A separate fact sheet on Contact Energy is attached.

Exploration and Production

Origin Energy produces gas and oil from reserves strategically located close to major Australian and New Zealand energy markets. Origin Energy’s proved and probable reserves are estimated to be 2,220 petajoules equivalent, of which 89% is natural gas. Origin Energy is the operator of 10 onshore oil or gas onshore production facilities and has interests in exploration and production permits covering more than 100,000km² in Australia and New Zealand. Origin Energy is also Australia’s leading developer of coal seam gas (CSG), which is an abundant, new and reliable source of gas supply for eastern Australian gas markets.

Origin Energy’s exploration and production portfolio includes both offshore and onshore acreage in the following areas:

 Otway/Bass Basins – Onshore and offshore. Located in South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania, Origin Energy has an interest in a number of important projects in this area. The BassGas Project is scheduled to deliver gas from the Yolla field into the Victorian market in the first half of 2006 while the Otway Gas Project based on the large Thylacine and Geographe fields in the offshore Otway Basin is planned to provide gas into the Victorian and South Australian markets in the middle of the same year.

 Cooper/Eromanga Basins – Onshore. Located on either side of the border between South Australia and Queensland, Origin Energy has exploration and production interests over an area comprising some 30,000km². Through the major gas plants at Moomba (South Australia) and Ballera (Queensland), the Cooper Basin has been the principal supplier of natural gas to New South Wales, South Australia and Queensland. Santos is the operator of the Cooper Basin gas production facilities.

 Perth Basin – Onshore and offshore. Located in Western Australia, Origin Energy has significant interests in a number of producing assets in the area including the Hovea, Jingemia and Eremia oilfields and the Beharra Springs, Tarantula and Xynis gas fields.

 Surat/Bowen Basins – Onshore. Located in Queensland, Origin Energy has major interests in conventional exploration and production permits within these basins and operates three gas plants processing gas from its conventional fields.

 Coal Seam Gas – Since the mid 1990s Origin Energy has acquired a large portfolio of exploration and production CSG assets in the Surat and Bowen Basins and is now the largest producer of CSG in Australia. It operates the Spring Gully and Peat CSG plants and over half of Origin Energy’s natural gas reserves are now located in these areas and will provide a focus for growth in the coming years.

 Canterbury Basin – Offshore. Located off the south island of New Zealand, Origin Energy has a 100% interest in a large exploration permit.

 Taranaki/Northland Basins – Onshore and offshore. Located off the north island of New Zealand, Origin Energy has a major interest in a number of large permits, including a production licence over the Kupe gas field which is expected to be developed and in production by 2008.

Retail

Origin Energy is the second largest retailer of natural gas, electricity and LPG in Australia with more than two million customers in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific.

 Natural gas – Origin Energy purchases natural gas from producers to sell to residential, commercial and industrial customers in Queensland, South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales.

 LPG – Origin Energy supplies LPG to homes and businesses in all Australian states. This includes supply to 800 service stations through Vitalgas in which Origin Energy is a joint venture with Caltex. In our own right or through local joint ventures and subsidiaries, Origin Energy supplies domestic and commercial LPG and autogas in New Zealand and a number of countries in the Pacific.

 Electricity – Origin Energy purchases electricity from the wholesale market and directly from generators to sell to residential and business customers mostly in Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia.

Generation

Origin Energy’s generation business includes gas-fired cogeneration and peaking plants with a gross installed electricity generation capacity 882 megawatts. We operate four power stations and have interests in Australia’s largest portfolio of cogeneration plants which supply electricity and steam under long-term contracts. Origin Energy is also investing in renewable electricity generation including SLIVER solar cell technology and has a 15% interest in Geodynamics Limited, which is developing a hot rock geothermal resource in South Australia’s Cooper Basin.

The four power stations operated by Origin Energy are as follows:

 Quarantine Power Station – Open cycle gas turbine. Located in Adelaide, South Australia, it has a plant capacity of 96MW. First commissioned in 2002.

 Ladbroke Grove Power Station - Open cycle gas turbine. Located in Penola, South Australia, it has a plant capacity of 80MW. First commissioned in 2000.

 Roma Power Station – Open cycle gas turbine. Located in central Queensland, it has plant capacity of 74MW. First commissioned in 1999.

 Mt Stuart Power Station – Open cycle gas turbine. Located in Townsville, Queensland, it has plant capacity of 288MW. First commissioned in 1999.

Networks

Origin Energy’s Networks business includes a 17.5% stake in Envestra Limited – Australia’s largest distributor of natural gas. Envestra owns more than 20,000 km of regulated networks in all mainland states and the Northern Territory, which Origin Energy manages on Envestra’s behalf. In July 2003, Origin Energy extended its services to water network management in a joint venture contract to manage the water assets of Coliban Water in central Victoria. Origin Energy also has a one-third interest in the SEA Gas Pipeline which transports gas from Victoria’s gas fields to South Australia.

For more information visit www.originenergy.com.au

ENDS

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