Pluto LNG turnaround hurts Woodside’s revenue

Australia’s Woodside Petroleum on Thursday reported a 40 percent drop in revenue quarter-on-quarter impacted by LNG pricing lag and a major turnaround at the Pluto LNG facility. 

Image courtesy of Woodside Petroleum

Sales revenue during the second quarter reached $738 million, down from $1.22 billion in the previous quarter as well as on the $1.08 billion reported in the corresponding quarter last year.

The average realized price dropped to $44/boe in the quarter under review, compared to $52/boe in the corresponding quarter in 2018 and $56/boe in the previous quarter.

Woodside’s production, also affected by the Pluto LNG turnaround reached 17.3 MMboe, slipping from 21.7 MMboe in the previous quarter and 22.1 in the corresponding quarter last year.

Commenting on the results, Woodside CEO Peter Coleman said, “Production and sales revenue were lower compared with the previous quarter due to the major turnaround at Pluto LNG.”

However, he noted that the company delivered strong LNG production from both North West Shelf, where it optimized the performance of the LNG trains and Wheatstone LNG which achieved record daily LNG production.

Production at the Wheatstone LNG facility reached 340,479 tonnes, which compares to 271,826 tonnes in the previous quarter and 169,087 tonnes in Q2 last year.

Wheatstone LNG project shipped a total of 36 cargoes in the quarter, while only 9 cargoes departed the Pluto LNG facility.  The NWS project shipped a total of 66 cargoes during the period under review.

Coleman added that the delivery of the Greater Enfield project is on track following commencement of offshore commissioning. Production from the Vincent wells was restarted in July and the company is expecting to start up the Greater Enfield wells within the coming weeks.

“Additionally, the Browse Joint Venture approved the basis of design for the Browse to NWS project in May 2019, and we have recently taken further steps towards securing key regulatory and environmental approvals for both the Browse to NWS project and the proposed Scarborough development.”

“These two projects underpin our growth strategy to unlock the future value of the North West Shelf and Pluto LNG facilities, as part of our vision for the Burrup Hub,” Coleman said.