Woodside profit slides on maintenance, cyclone impact
Oil and gas producer Woodside’s first half profit fell 23pc after maintenance at its Pluto LNG plant, and cyclones.
Oil and gas producer Woodside Petroleum has suffered a 23 per cent fall in first half profit after taking a hit from maintenance at its flagship Pluto LNG plant and from the impact of cyclones.
Net profit after tax for the six months ended June 30 fell to $US419 million ($620m) from $US541m as revenue eased 5 per cent to $US2.26 billion.
The Perth producer retained its guidance for production this year at the lower end of 88 million to 94m barrels of oil equivalent and says it remains on track to achieve annual production of 100m boe in 2020.
Woodside declared an interim dividend about a third lower on last year at US36c per share, compared with US53c per share.
The energy operator is preparing for final investment decisions on its Browse gas field in Western Australia next year.
The latest development plans for Browse, where gas was found in the early 1970s, focus on a 900km-long pipeline south to the nation’s original LNG plant, the North West Shelf. The gas would be used to backfill the plant as its existing gas fields decline, with Browse eventually producing up to 11.4 million tonnes of LNG a year.
Woodside chief Peter Coleman said the Browse and NW Shelf joint ventures are aligned on starting the engineering and design phase for the planned expansion by the end of 2019.
A final investment decision is also due on the remote Scarborough field next year with gas from that resource to be piped about 430km to Woodside’s existing Pluto LNG projects, where the partners will build a second LNG processing train.
Mr Coleman said commercial negotiation for a Scarborough tolling agreement at Pluto has progressed along with the engineering and design of upstream and downstream developments ahead of an investment decision next year.