From Bloomberg
Woodside Petroleum Ltd., Australia’s second-largest oil and gas producer, posted a 45 percent decline in third-quarter sales after a slide in energy prices.
Revenue fell to $1.09 billion from $1.96 billion a year earlier, Perth-based Woodside said Thursday in a statement. Output was little changed at 25.3 million barrels of oil equivalent, the company said.
Woodside is among liquefied natural gas producers grappling with slumping prices in Asia amid new supply and weaker demand in key markets such as Japan, Korea and China. Brent crude, used to help calculate LNG prices, averaged $51.48 a barrel in the third quarter, compared with $103.59 during the same period in 2014.
The company also narrowed its production guidance for the year to 88 million to 93 million barrels of oil equivalent from its previous 86 million to 94 million range.
Woodside has sought to take advantage of the lower price environment with an $8 billion bid to acquire Oil Search Ltd. last month. The bid was rejected as too low. The Perth-based company is considering a higher offer, the Australian Financial Review reported Wednesday, citing unidentified people familiar with the transaction.
