In a presentation sent to the Australian Securities Exchange today, the company said it was planning to drill 6-9 wells next year. Most of the wells are expected to be located in WA-404-P where preliminary results from the 3166 square kilometre Colombard 3D seismic survey have been "encouraging".

Woodside said the first well to be drilled in the permit it holds with equal partner Hess Corporation would target the Martell prospect.

Martell is planned for December 2008 and February 2009.

The company added that it plans to drill a total of nine wells in the WA-404-P for 2009-10.

Woodside is also looking to drill the Pyxis prospect in WA-34-L and is waiting on results from the 6484km Armagnac 2D seismic survey before deciding on drilling in the WA-347-P, WA-348-P and WA-353-P permits.

The company said the Bellatrix-1, Ixion-1 and Belicoso-1 wells were all dry, though Belicoso-1 in WA-347-P had established an outboard reservoir after intersecting better reservoir thickness and quality than expected.

On May 1, Woodside chief executive Don Voelte told the annual general meeting that the company would have to approve construction of the second train by late next year to keep its timetable intact.

He also said on October 21 that Woodside was focused on delivering Pluto Train 1 by the end of 2010 and capturing growth opportunities for trains 2 and 3.

Woodside needs to find a new gas supply for the second train soon or risk being unable to roll over the construction workforce from Pluto's first train to the project's second train.

The company is also open to developing the train wholly or partly as a gatherer of other companies' gas.

The company said almost three quarters of its 2009 spending budget would be on the Pluto project with capital investment expected to jump from an estimated $5.5 billion this year to $7.3 billion in 2009 due to increased spending on project.

The recent fall in the Australian currency against the US dollar means the company's US dollar debt can fund more spending, Woodside said.

The company added that it has $US1.05 billion of undrawn facilities and will not require more funds until the first half of next year.

Meanwhile, Woodside said a record annual profit for the 2008 calendar year was expected and the company's profit for the first half of 2008 of $1.09 billion is 85% higher than the first half of 2007.

The company added that its 2009 production would be similar to, or better than, the previous year.