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In a quarterly report released today, the oil and gas giant recorded 4Q revenue of $1.642 billion, down from September's $1.774 billion due to a significant drop in commodity prices.
However, the drop was not as bad as some analysts predicted. UBS energy analyst Gordon Ramsay told the Australian revenue was predicted to fall by 11% from the September quarter.
"This decline is mainly a result of lower product prices, which are partly offset by higher production/sales volumes," he said.
Woodside said its underlying result for the second half of 2008 will be affected by foreign exchange losses and impairment charges on US assets, reducing the company's underlying profit after tax by about $260 million.
In addition, the company said the full year profit is expected to be reduced by further significant items totalling around $50 million, including a write-down of its suspended OceanWay project in California.
The Perth-based oil and gas producer also said it would make a provision of around $120 million to cover the new charges relating to the Australian government's condensate excise tax.
Production for the quarter increased 6% from the third quarter to 23.1 million barrels of oil equivalent while sales jumped 5% to 22.6MMboe. Total output for the year was 81.3MMboe.
Production for 2009 is targeted between 81-86MMboe.
According to the company, quarterly production was boosted by the start-up of the Angel project and the ramp-up of LNG train 5 at the North West Shelf, as well as the first full quarter of production from the Vincent field offshore Western Australia and the Neptune field in the Gulf of Mexico.
During the quarter, the company said its Pluto LNG project was 42% complete and the drilling campaign for five production wells progressed as planned.
The five-well campaign is expected to be completed during the third quarter of 2009.
The company also said it expects to begin pipe laying operations and the load-out for shipment of the LNG plant's main cryogenic heat exchangers during the first quarter of this year.
The company has also progressed site preparations for Pluto Train 2 and expects to drill the Martell exploration well this quarter as part of a wider exploration campaign for train 2.
