Oil And Gas Producer BHP Oil Production Growth Target Of 10 Percent
Oct/21/2009 | Under Crude Oil - Oil and Gas Drilling - Petroleum
Oil and gas producer BHP Billiton oil production growth target of BHP Billiton’s annual 10 percent increase. Operation BHP Billiton’s first quarter declined due to weather disturbances.
BHP Billiton reported their oil production increased 18 percent from the previous year, oil production reached 41.2 million barrels in the three months ended September 30. Oil exploration project that could increase oil production of BHP Billiton, among others: the Gulf of Mexico, Shenzi and oil exploration projects Atlantis.
The period is “seasonally the strongest quarter due to drier weather and seasonal demand for Bass Strait gas” during the Australian winter from BHP’s fields off the country’s southeast coast, Glyn Lawcock, a UBS AG analyst who correctly estimated production of 41.2 million barrels of oil equivalent, said in a report yesterday.
BHP, also the world’s biggest mining company, fell 1.2 percent to A$39.44 in Sydney trading, compared with a decline of 0.4 percent for the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index.
BHP said it is “on track” to deliver a petroleum production growth rate of 10 percent during its 2010 financial year. Michael Yeager, head of the company’s petroleum unit, said last month that while BHP expected to reach the target this year it would be “hard to maintain” the increase “indefinitely,” according to a transcript of his comments.
Pakistan, Mad Dog
Output of crude oil and condensates, a type of light oil produced together with natural gas, jumped 34 percent to 21.65 million barrels in the quarter from 16.18 million a year earlier. Natural gas production rose 4 percent in the period on stronger demand in Pakistan and the seasonal increase in output from the Bass Strait fields.
Oil and gas exploration spending for the quarter was $29 million, the company said. A year earlier, BHP reported spending of $148 million.
BHP is a partner in the Mad Dog field in the Gulf of Mexico, where BP Plc, Europe’s second-largest oil company, said it found oil after drilling a successful appraisal well.