Amid claims it was revisiting the pricing of its rejected $11.6 billion offer for Oil Search (OSH), Woodside Petroleum (WPL) yesterday revealed the damage the continuing oil price slide has done to its finances.
Woodside shares rose 1% to $31.17 on those Oil Search bid reports.
Those believers in this story had failed to read the production and exploration report because Woodside made it clear a higher big would be difficult.
Woodside in fact restated its commitment to “maintain a disciplined approach in relation to business development opportunities”. That is business-speak for no higher price for Oil Search unless there’s a very, very compelling reason.
But the company also released its third quarter production and exploration report which revealed a near 45% slide in revenue in the tree months to September.
The company also narrowed its full-year production forecast.
WPL 1Y – Woodside’s revenue plummets
Woodside said its sales revenue for the three months to September 30 was $US1.086 billion ($A1.49 billion), down on the $US1.959 billion ($A2.68 billion) for the prior corresponding period. Total revenue for the period was $US1.221 billion, down from $US2.065 billion a year ago.
For the nine months to September, total revenue was $US3.777 billion, down 33% from the $US5.61 billion in the first three quarters of 2014.
Production volumes rose 0.4% to 25.3 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe), largely due to the Balnaves oil asset coming on line for Woodside in April 2015, while sales volumes fell 1.6%.
Woodside revised its full-year production target range to 88 to 93mmboe from 86 to 94mmboe.
