(Adds background, more context) Feb 16 (Reuters) - Australia's...

(Adds background, more context)

Feb 16 (Reuters) - Australia's Origin Energy (ORG) , a takeover target for a Brookfield-led consortium, on Thursday posted a near 84% fall in first-half profit, as higher fuel and wholesale electricity procurement costs offset a boost from higher prices for liquefied natural gas and oil.

Origin has been pressured by the recent volatility in Australia's energy market, fuelled by soaring global coal and gas prices and outages at local coal-fired power plants, offsetting record liquefied natural gas (LNG) and oil prices.

The country's No.2 power producer said underlying profit was A$44 million ($30.39 million) for the six months ended Dec. 31, compared with A$268 million a year earlier.

"The first-half result is mixed, reflecting a higher earnings contribution from Integrated Gas, contrasted with more challenging conditions for Energy Markets resulting in lower earnings from that business," Chief Executive Frank Calabria said.

Origin, which is currently in talks with a Brookfield-led consortium to finalise its A$15.5 billion ($10.81 billion) buyout bid, declared an interim dividend of 16.5 Australian cents per share, compared with 12.5 Australian cents declared a year ago. ($1 = 1.4480 Australian dollars)