Woodside's 2014 NPAT Up 38% to $2.4B, to Cut 2015 Spending by 15-20%

Australia's Woodside Petroleum Ltd. posted net profit after tax (NPAT) of $2.414 billion in 2014, an increase of 38 percent over the previous year's $1.749 billion, with the better performance due to record production of 95.1 million barrels of oil equivalent (MMboe) and record operating revenue of $7.435 billion, according to full year financial results released by the company Wednesday.

Operating revenue was up 25 percent last year from $5.926 billion in 2013, while production rose 9 percent from the previous year's 87 MMboe, a development which Woodside attributed to the company's increasing focus on reliability, especially at Pluto and North West Shelf. The stronger financial performance was a reflection of its rigorous approach to improving facility reliability and achieving cost savings across the business.

“Our 2014 reported profit increased 38 percent on the previous year, reflecting record production and higher realized prices. Our focus on lowering cost structures is evidenced in unit production costs decreasing. Continuous improvement in driving business efficiencies will remain our priority in the current challenging market conditions,” CEO Peter Coleman comented in the press release.

Woodside had significantly progressed its global growth strategy throughout the year, rebalancing its exploration portfolio, developing marketing and trading opportunities and through the proposed acquisition of key Apache interests.

“We have made significant progress in building our global exploration portfolio in emerging petroleum provinces in parallel with increasing supply optionality for customers. The world-class Wheatstone, Balnaves and Kitimat interests will provide value-enhancing opportunities that complement our existing portfolio.”

The company expects its acquisition of a 50 percent interest in Canada's Kitimat liquefied natural gas (LNG) project from Apache to close in the first quarter of 2015.

Meanwhile, Woodside is sticking to its earlier 2015 production target range of 84 to 91 MMboe, with the volume excluding production from the Apache asset purchase which would add around 3 to 4 MMboe based on a targeted transaction close date March 31.

"The additional range reflects the inclusion of Balnaves oil production and Kitimat pipeline natural gas production, split approximately 55 percent Balnaves oil and 45 percent Kitimat pipeline natural gas," the firm added.

Like other petroleum companies, Woodside is making adjustments to company expenditures going forwards amid the slide in oil prices over the six months.

"In response to the low oil price environment, we reduced our 2015 operating expenditure by about 15 percent and our investment expenditure by about 20 percent relative to our original plan," Coleman said.

Of the investment spending planned, Woodside is setting aside $220 million on futher development work at Pluto, while $200 million each has been budgeted for North West Shelf and Other (comprising Browse, Vincent Phase IV and Greater Enfield). The largest single expense item is on exploration, with the firm allocating around $500 million.



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