AGL Ltd. (AGL.AU) will quit natural gas exploration and production because of the volatility in energy prices, tightening its focus on commercial and retail gas activities. The Australian energy company said in a stock exchange filing that it had decided exploration and production would no longer be a core business after reviewing its operations. It plans to sell its assets in eastern Queensland state, although the company said that may take some time because of difficult market conditions. In New South Wales state, AGL won’t go ahead with the Gloucester gas project and will cease production at the Camden project in southwest Sydney in 2023, 12 years earlier than previously proposed. An impairment charge of 640 million Australian dollars (US$450.4 million), after tax, will be booked against the carrying value of the gas exploration and production assets for the six months through December 2015, which it said had […]