Woodside Petroleum Half-year Profit Rises

Australia's Woodside Petroleum Ltd said on Wednesday that its first-half net profit rose 6 percent and it raised its 2018 production outlook after strong performances from its Wheatstone and Pluto LNG projects.

For the 2018 fiscal year, Woodside said it now expects fiscal 2018 production between to 87 mmboe to 91 mmboe from an earlier outlook of 85 mmboe to 90 mmboe.

Production costs per barrel of oil equivalent across all operating assets for 2018 are expected to be between $5.50 and $5.80, Woodside said.

Australia's biggest listed oil and gas explorer reported net profit of $541 million in the half-year ended June 2018 compared with $507 million a year ago, aided by larger production volumes.

Production was spurred by a ramp up at the Wheatstone liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Western Australia. The plant's second production unit started up in mid-June and is ramping up as planned. The plant's second production unit started up in mid-June and is ramping up as planned, it said.

Wheatstone, run by Chevron Corp, is expected to contribute more than 13 million barrels of oil equivalent to the company's annual output once it is fully operational.

Woodside said it expected to reach a preliminary tolling agreement between the North West Shelf Project participants and Browse Joint Venture in the third quarter of 2018.

Browse is seen as an important source of growth for Woodside but it has been on the drawing board for years as plans for onshore and floating LNG development estimated at $30 billion to $45 billion were scrapped.

The oil and gas explorer announced an interim dividend of 53 U.S. cents per share, up from 49 U.S. cents a year ago. Revenue for the first half came in at $2.39 billion, a 27 percent rise from a year ago.

(Reporting by Susan Mathew in Bengaluru Editing by Matthew Lewis)