Woodside cuts despite record sales

January 15, 2015 , Amanda Saunders


The collapse in oil prices is also contributing to as much as $US400 million in write-downs that Woodside flagged for its assets for the full-year.


Woodside Petroleum has advised it is set to cut capital investment this year after the plunge in crude oil prices, despite reporting record sales for the full year.


The collapse in oil prices is also contributing to as much as $US400 million in write-downs that Woodside flagged for its assets for the full-year.


It also reported a step backwards at its Browse floating LNG project, saying that a joint marketing agreement for LNG signed in 2012 with project partners Mitsui and Mitsubishi had been terminated.


“With lower oil prices we are assessing the impact on near-term profitability and future cash flows and revising investment expenditure accordingly,” Woodside said in its quarterly report on Thursday. It said it would update the market on the revised plans in February.



The tumbling oil price had a relatively mild impact on Woodside’s December quarter sales, which still climbed 6.9 per cent from the year-earlier quarter to $US1.76 billion. The revenues brought full-year sales to $US7.08 billion, up 22.5 per cent.


Production for the December quarter was 0.9 per cent up on the same quarter in 2013, at 23.4 million barrels of oil equivalent.


Woodside gave a target for 2015 production of between 84 million and 91 million boe, down from the 95.1 million boe recorded for 2014.


The figure does not include production that would come from the Balnaves oil project that is part of the company’s $US2.75 billion deal with Apache Corporation that was announced in December and has yet to complete.




 

(245)