Woodside Petroleum says it expects an even better production performance this half after posting record interim profit and revenues, beating analyst expectations.
Australia's second-largest oil and gas producer posted a 67 per cent lift in first-half net profit to $1.016billion, driven by high oil prices and greater production volumes.
Woodside said the net result included significant items relating to the realised gain of $19 million from the sale of equity interests in the $12billion Pluto liquefied natural gas project near Karratha in Western Australia. It also included a loss of $12 million from the sale of producing assets in the United States.
Underlying net profit for the half was $1.009 billion, up by 86 per cent from $545 million in the same period last year.
The company reported record revenues of $2.6 billion, up by 45 per cent from $1.8 billion previously.
Production totalled 36.5 million barrels of oil equivalent, up by 4 per cent from 35 million in the previous corresponding period.
The company said it was on track to achieve a full-year production target of between 80 million and 86 million.
''We're confident we'll meet our production target by year end, which represents an 18 to 22 per cent annual production growth,'' chief executive Don Voelte said.
''Our producing assets are going really well and are progressing on time and on cost.''
The company continues to focus on long-term growth through LNG, with the price ''following the upper trend of oil'', Mr Voelte said.
Woodside said the increase in first-half profit was driven by stronger production volumes and higher commodity prices, which outweighed the negative effect of increased production costs and a strong Australian dollar on overseas earnings.
The lift in production costs was due primarily to the start-up of Australia's deepest oil field development, Woodside's Stybarrow equal joint venture with BHP Billiton, offshore from Exmouth in WA.
Intervention work on the nearby Enfield oil project also added to costs.
Woodside said it expected stronger production in the second half, with contributions from redrills of Enfield, and additional oil equity in its flagship North West Shelf Venture near Karratha after the purchase of Shell's 16.7 per cent interest in the Cossack Wanaea Lambert Hermes and Egret oil fields.
The recently commissioned fifth production ''train'' at the North West Shelf Venture, the Vincent oil project and Angel gas project in WA, and Neptune and Power Play oil and gas projects in the Gulf of Mexico would all contribute to a lift in production this half.
Mr Voelte said a site would be selected by the end of this year for an LNG processing facility for Woodside's remote Browse Basin project offshore from Broome.
Two options being considered are a pipeline from the Browse field to the Kimberley region or a longer pipeline from the field to Woodside's existing North West Shelf Venture plant or its Pluto facility, which is under construction.
The former option is tied to ongoing efforts by a joint Federal and state government taskforce to pick the best location from 11 potential sites for a multi-user LNG processing hub in the Kimberley.
The company declared an interim dividend of 80c a share, fully franked, up 63 per cent compared with the interim dividend of 49c a share for the first half of 2007. Shares in Woodside were up $1.92, or 3.4 per cent, to close at $58.42. AAP
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