Woodside Petroleum (ASX:WPL) has reported a 27% increase in September-quarter revenue, as higher commodity prices more than made up for disruptions in production volumes.
The company reported revenue of US$1.3 billion ($1.27 billion) for the quarter, compared to US$1 billion in the same period a year earlier.
But production fell 12%, as a result of an outage at one project, planned shut-downs elsewhere, and lower production volumes at three sites.
Sequentially, revenue was up a comparatively slimmer 5%, but production was only 1% lower. Sales volumes had also grown 2% from the June quarter, compared to a 12% decline year-on-year.
Woodside said its work commissioning the Pluto LNG project in Western Australia was progressing to plan, with the first cargo estimated to arrive in March 2012.
For calendar 2010, Woodside had reported a 20% increase in revenue to US$4.19 billion, even as sales fell by 11% and production by 3%.
Headline profit was a record US$1.57 billion, with the result aided by asset sales and forex gains.
WPG shares fell 0.8% on Friday to $33.330.
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