Woodside first-quarter sales increase 22%
Woodside Petroleum Ltd, Australia's second-largest oil and gas producer, said first-quarter sales rose 22 percent as the effect of higher prices outweighed a drop in production.
Sales increased to A$1.1 billion ($1 billion) in the three months ended March 31, from A$899.3 million a year earlier, the Perth-based company said yesterday in a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange. Output fell 4 percent because of a plant shutdown, two tropical cyclones and the sale of fields.
Woodside's one-sixth owned North West Shelf venture in January had a two-day shutdown of its natural gas plant in Western Australia after an electrical fault, while tropical cyclones and asset sales further reduced quarterly output. The company retained its full-year production forecast, up as much as 22 percent, relying on the start-up of new projects.
The quarterly results are "a bit light, I don't think you can look at it any other way", said Aiden Bradley, an energy analyst at ABN Amro Australia Pty in Sydney, who was forecasting output of 18.1 million barrels. Full-year production may now be towards the middle of the forecast range of 80 million to 86 million barrels rather than the upper end, he said.
Woodside, 34 percent owned by Royal Dutch Shell Plc, rose as much as A$1.00, or 1.7 percent to a record A$59.30 in Sydney trading.
The shares were at A$59.00, up 1.2 percent, at 11:44 am Sydney time yesterday.
Agencies
(China Daily 04/18/2008 page16)
