While still higher than long-term averages, prices for oil and one-off cargoes of LNG shipped from Western Australia and Queensland are now declining amid healthy stockpiles and milder weather in the northern hemisphere reducing the need for households to turn up their heaters.

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Origin on Friday said APLNG’s average LNG price had slid 9 per cent from $US15.94 per million British thermal units during the final three months of 2022 to $US14.50 in the March quarter.

APLNG’s realised oil price averaged $US105 a barrel, down from $US114 a barrel in the previous quarter but far higher than the $US78 a barrel it was fetching at the same time last year.

While the federal government is yet to finalise its position on whether to lift taxes on gas exporters’ soaring profits, Treasurer Jim Chalmers declared there was an open question over whether the scheme was delivering the revenue that the community expected.

“We’ve said for some time now that we want to make sure that the PRRT arrangements are up to scratch,” he said.

The PRRT is levied on offshore oil or gas projects at a rate of 40 per cent of their taxable profit, but this is applied after generous deductions for capital investments, raising questions over the quantum of revenue it raised compared with the billions reaped in profits by oil and gas companies.

Origin on Friday said APLNG, which is also a significant supplier of gas to east-coast buyers, sold the fuel at an average domestic price of $6.17 a gigajoule across the quarter, less than half of its average LNG price.

The venture exported two uncontracted shipments of LNG to overseas buyers during the period, down from seven at the same time last year.

“APLNG has continued to meet its commitment to provide Australian businesses with access to competitively priced gas, recently completing new gas sales to major business customers at the capped price of $12 a gigajoule,” Calabria said.