UPDATE 2-Woodside Q1 output falls on cyclones, asset sales

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By Fayen Wong

PERTH, April 17 (Reuters) - Woodside Petroleum Ltd (WPL.AX), Australia's second-largest oil and gas producer, reported a 4 percent fall in first-quarter output, citing the impact of cyclones, maintenance of some fields and the sale of assets.

First-quarter output of 17.2 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe) was down 4 percent on the previous quarter, and Woodside reaffirmed its 2008 production forecast for 80-86 million boe. "It was quite a disappointing report. A number of oil fields were producing below expectations; Enfield was a major one and Cossack another. Stybarrow also produced below expectations," said Mark Greenwood, oil and gas analyst at JP Morgan in Sydney.

"Overall, revenue was 17 percent below our forecast, while production and sales was about 10 percent below our estimate."

Shares in Woodside were up 1.6 percent at A$59.26 at 0315 GMT, buoyed by record high oil prices. The S&P/ASX 200 energy index .AXEJ was also up 1.6 percent and the benchmark index .AXJO was up 1.1 percent.

Production from the Enfield oil field off Western Australia fell about 50 percent to 28,730 barrels per day (bpd), due to cyclones as well as the shut-in of a well after it started to produce sand.

Output from Cossack Pioneer oil field, also off Western Australia, dropped about 32 percent to 765,777 bpd due to cyclones, though output from the nearby Stybarrow field, operated by BHP Billiton Ltd (BHP.AX) (BLT.L), rose to 65,430 bpd from 45,228 bpd in the previous quarter.

Total output was also lowered by the sale of Woodside's Chinguetti oil field in Mauritania and the Legendre field off Western Australia last year.

Woodside, 34 percent-owned by Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSa.L) (RDSb.L), said January-March sales revenue was A$1.099 billion ($1.04 billion), up 22 percent from the previous quarter with higher commodity prices outweighing lower sales volumes and the effects of a stronger Australian dollar.

It said its Vincent oil project was on schedule for start-up early in the third quarter, while the train five expansion of the North West Shelf LNG project was also on track for first delivery in the fourth quarter.

Construction of train one at its A$12 billion Pluto LNG project has commenced and Woodside reaffirmed that, subject to gas availability, it was targetting a final investment decision for Pluto's train two expansion by the year-end.

Woodside said a delayed start-up of the planned 50,000 barrels per day Neptune oil project in the Gulf of Mexico would impact its output by 0.15 million boe each month from April until the field comes onstream.

BHP Billiton operates the Neptune field, in which Woodside has a 20 percent stake.

For more details, click on: here 1E463479A596/0/FirstQuarterReportforperiodended31March2008.pdf