For the country’s largest standalone oil and gas group, Woodside, its first half financial report was far different in substance (a nice rise in profit), tone (more upbeat) and colour (now losses or red ink) than the full year report from Origin Energy yesterday and the loss-strewn half year expected from Santos.
Reflecting those differences, Woodside rewarded shareholders with a near 50% jump in interim dividend to 49 US cents a share from 34 cents in the June half of 2016.
That was after higher prices and lower production saw Woodside report a 49% increase in first-half profit, to $US507 million. That was struck though on a 3.6% dip in statutory sales to $US1.869 billion.
The company enjoyed a 10% rise in the average realised oil and gas prices to $US43 a barrel of oil equivalent.
Costs per unit of production fell 6% from the first half last year, and were 2% down on the December 2016 half.
CEO Peter Coleman saying the oil and gas producer is in a “strong” position for the second half.
He said the start-up of the Wheatstone LNG project in Western Australia will give Woodside’s production a boost, and pointed to drilling success in Myanmar and off the coast of Senegal.
He also revealed that plans were evolving to develop a production hub out of the long established North West Shelf and the newer Pluto LNG plants near Karratha on the WA North West Coast.
