Woodside’s half-year profit slips

Australia’s Woodside Petroleum reported a $419 million net profit after tax (NPAT) for the first of the year, slipping 22.5 percent below the corresponding period last year. 

The company noted in its report that the profit reflects strong operating fundamentals, offset by the impact of cyclone activity and the Pluto LNG turnaround.

Woodside reported a slip in sales volume from 44 mmboe in the first half of 2018 to 38.7 mmboe in the first half of this year.

A decrease in volume was driven by the planned Pluto LNG turnaround, as well as the planned suspension of Ngujima-Yin FPSO operations in May 2018 for the Greater Enfield project.

This was partially offset by higher sales volumes for Wheatstone following the start-up of LNG Train 2 in June 2018, together with higher production and the timing of equity cargoes from the NWS project.

Pluto LNG delivered 14.2 MMboe of production in the half (Woodside share). The facility’s first major turnaround since startup in 2012 was completed in the second quarter of 2019 to support continued safe, reliable and efficient production, resulting in lower production for the half.

Wheatstone continued to deliver solid production, driven by improved reliability and increased flow rates. Woodside’s share of production delivered during the period was 6.8 mmboe.

Woodside delivered strong LNG production from the North West Shelf (NWS) project, implementing several improvements to increase the efficiency and capacity of Trains 4 and 5. Woodside’s share of production delivered during the period was 16.8 mmboe.

Major turnarounds commenced in July 2019 for LNG Train 1 and the Goodwyn A platform. An integrated turnaround campaign is scheduled for September 2019 involving LNG Train 5, Fractionation, North Rankin Complex and North Rankin Train 2.