Woodside Quarterly Sales Drop Close to 50%

Australia’s Woodside announced a sharp drop in September quarter sales revenue due to low energy prices.

The company reported a 44.6 percent drop in sales revenue to $1.086 billion (A$1.49 billion) for the quarter ended September 30.

“Sales revenue for the quarter was lower reflecting lower realised prices across the portfolio,” Woodside said Thursday.

Production volumes increased 0.4 percent predominantly due to oil production from the Balnaves oil asset which commenced production from April 2015, the company added.

Compared with the second quarter of 2015, production volumes increased 25.9 percent, predominantly due to higher LNG and associated condensate volumes at Pluto, following the completion of a major turnaround and higher oil volumes from Vincent, following a full quarter of production from the Phase IV in-fill well.

Woodside did not comment on the speculation about increased offer for Oil Search but stated that it “will continue to maintain a disciplined approach in relation to business development opportunities.”

On 8 September, Woodside confirmed that it provided Oil Search a confidential and non-binding merger proposal. The offer was later rejected by Oil Search.