Higher production and prices boost Woodside’s Q4 revenue

Australian LNG player Woodside reported a jump in sales revenue for the fourth quarter of 2018, on the back of higher prices. 

Woodside’s revenue climbed 43 percent to $1.42 billion during the quarter under review, when compared to the corresponding quarter in 2017.

Woodside reported higher realized prices across its LNG projects with prices rising year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter. Highest realized price for the quarter was at the Chevron-led Wheatstone LNG project reaching $11.2 per mmBtu followed by $10.8/mmBtu at Pluto LNG and $9.2/mmBtu at NWS LNG.

The production also rose during the quarter to 24.1 mmboe, 10 percent above Q4 2017 figures, pushing the annual production to 91.4 mmboe, 8 percent above the 2017 volumes, the company said in its report.

Speaking of the results, Woodside’s CEO Peter Coleman said, “the base business turned in another strong performance in the fourth quarter, with Wheatstone’s production continuing to exceed expectations and Pluto achieving 99.7 percent reliability.”

He added that the highlight of the quarter was the “start-up of the Greater Western Flank Phase 2 project in October, six months ahead of schedule and $630 million under total budget.”

He also reminded that the company has taken steps forward in developing the Burrup hub with the FEED for the proposed Pluto-North West Shelf Interconnector gas pipeline now complete and the Pluto LNG facilities and pipeline FEED contract awarded to Bechtel.

In its report, Woodside said its production guidance for 2019 has been set between 88 and 94 mmboe, with its investment expenditure guidance for 2019 lading between $1.6 and $1.7 billion.