Woodside Q2 Revenue Slides 32%

Australia's Woodside Petroleum Ltd reported a 32% drop in second-quarter revenue on Thursday, the first decline in six quarters, as it was hit by an extension of planned maintenance at its Pluto liquefied natural gas facility and weaker prices.

The country's largest listed oil and gas explorer said production for the quarter ended June 30 fell to 17.3 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe), from 22.1 mmboe a year earlier. The latest quarter production figure was above Citi estimates of 16.33 mmboe.

Sales fell to $738 million from $1.08 billion, below Citi estimates of $793 million.

Last month, the company said it expected annual production to be at the lower end of its forecast range of 88 mmboe to 94 mmboe on maintenance extension at its Pluto plant.

The company said it started commissioning activities at the $1.9 billion Greater Enfield oil project off Western Australia. Woodside operates the Greater Enfield project and has a 60% stake, while Mitsui E&P Australia Pty Ltd, a unit of Japanese trading house Mitsui & Co, owns the remaining 40%. In March, Woodside Chief Executive Officer Peter Coleman said the company was slowing down marketing for the Scarborough development in Western Australia, despite a lot of interest for the gas, due to weak prices of Asian LNG.

Coleman had also said he was worried about companies approving new LNG projects without lining up long-term contracts, potentially weighing on prices when they start producing in the mid-2020s.