BHP chief Kloppers attacks Rio's record-FT

SYDNEY, April 23 (Reuters) - BHP Billiton Ltd/Plc's (BHP.AX: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) (BLT.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) chief executive, Marius Kloppers, has attacked the performance claims of takeover target Rio Tinto Ltd/Plc (RIO.AX: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) (RIO.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the Financial Times reported.

In an interview published on the paper's website on Tuesday, Kloppers said that Rio had been outplayed by BHP in share price performance, volume growth and total return for shareholders.

"On every metric I can envisage they [Rio] have been beaten. They have missed the boat on China, they are missing the boat on energy," Kloppers said.

"It must be terrible [for them] that every quarter, BHP outperforms, and that has been the case for seven years," Kloppers said, adding that he was incredulous that Rio's chief executive, Tom Albanese, had criticised BHP's petroleum business last week when the oil price was close to $115 a barrel.

Last week Albanese said that while investments in aluminium endure over decades, the oil business suffered from short reserve and production ratios and was a sector "always struggling to replace reserves, much less trying to grow".

"Rio are energy-short and they will not benefit from the 80 percent margin in that business. I don't know what Tom was thinking," Kloppers told the paper.

Both sides have escalated their war of words in the weeks since Rio rejected BHP's offer of 3.4 of its shares for each one of Rios, a deal worth $147 billion that would create a global mining powerhouse.

On Wednesday, BHP reported an 8 percent fall in third quarter copper production on Wednesday, its top revenue earner, as well as declines in nickel and aluminium as mining of less rich ores, labour unrest, and power disruptions took a toll on its operations.

See [ID:nSYD38107] for more on BHP's third-quarter production report. See [ID:nSYD300819] for more on BHP's third-quarter petroleum output.