Oil and gas revenue surges on high prices

SYDNEY: Woodside Petroleum, Australia's second-biggest oil and gas producer, boosted first-quarter revenue by 43 per cent on higher commodity prices.

Revenue increased to A$1.03 billion ($1.33 billion) in the three months ended March 31 from A$718 million ($929 million) a year earlier, the Perth-based company said yesterday.

Production fell 7 per cent to 19.2 million barrels of oil equivalent after a planned maintenance outage at the Stybarrow project, the sale of its Otway gas assets and declining output from ageing fields, Woodside said. That was partially offset by record liquefied natural gas output from the North West Shelf project.

Woodside's A$13 billion ($16.83 billion) Pluto venture, among more than a dozen proposed LNG projects in Australia targeting Asian demand for cleaner-burning fuels, was on schedule and its cost estimate hadn't changed since November, it said.

While the project in Western Australia has been disrupted by strikes, it is still expected to deliver the first LNG in early 2011 after a final decision on whether to expand at the end of 2010.

Woodside and its partners in the Sunrise project in the Timor Sea, north of Australia, are finishing due diligence before deciding how to develop the fields.

- Bloomberg