Shares in Woodside Petroleum (WPL) edged higher yesterday after the company surprised the market with better than expected third quarter figures.
The shares rose 0.2% to $29.085, a small rise but not bad given the volatile day in local markets yesterday.
Higher liquefied natural gas prices helped Woodside to a 46% jump in third-quarter sales to a record $US1.96 billion.
And the company again raised its production target for the full year to 93 million-95 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe), from the 89 million-94 million boe given in July, citing “continuing strong operating performance across all assets”.
That July announcement was also an upgrade from a forecast earlier in the year of 86 million-93 million boe.
So Woodside has lifted its outlook twice in in four months, effectively by close on 10%.
That’s despite the slide in world oil prices in that time (which have been partially offset by the weakening Aussie/US exchange rate – although Woodside reports in US dollars).
WPL YTD – Woodside lifts full-year production target again
Production also rose in the quarter, up 15.1% from a year earlier to 25.2 million boe, mostly due to a better performance from the North West Shelf LNG venture and the Pluto LNG project, and the restart of an oil field off Western Australian coast.
Woodside had flagged that it expected increases in prices for LNG from its $15 billion Pluto venture in Western Australia to flow through this year after the contracts came up for a revision.
Woodside reiterated its aim of committing to start engineering and design work for the Browse floating LNG project late this year.
It also said it would reveal a final investment decision later this half to develop the Persephone gas field, the next major gas development for the North West Shelf venture.
Woodside said revenue for the nine months to September jumped 29%, or a huge $US1.2 billion, to $US5.313 billion.
