Australia's top energy firm Woodside marginally raised its annual output expectations on Wednesday after a record production for the quarter, reflecting ramp-up at Sangomar facility in Senegal and higher seasonal domestic gas demand.
The country's top independent oil and gas producer narrowed its full-year production estimate to a range of 189 to 195 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe) from its prior forecast of 185 to 195 mmboe for the year.
Work on Woodside's major growth projects have been continuing at pace, the oil and gas producer said, with the Scarborough energy project now over 73% complete.
Woodside also posted a 21% sequential rise in revenue to $3.68 billion for the three months ended Sept. 30, beating a Visible Alpha consensus estimate of $3.29 billion and higher than the $3.03 billion in revenue posted in the previous quarter.
Shares in the firm rose as much as 1.5% to A$25.17, despite a drop of over 1% in the broader energy index .AXEJ.
Woodside's average realized price for the September quarter rose to $65 per barrel of oil equivalent (boe), higher than $62 per boe in the June quarter.
It produced 53.1 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe) during the quarter, compared with 44.4 mmboe in the previous quarter.
"Stronger oil production and timing of cargoes saw total revenue beat ours and the Visible Alpha forecast by 6%," said analysts at Citi.
"We think Woodside will be in a position to provide better guidance at February."
Separately, the company also announced that it is delisting from the London Stock Exchange due to low trading volumes and to cut administration costs. Nov. 19 will be its last trading day.
Earlier this month, Woodside completed the acquisition of U.S. liquefied natural gas developer Tellurian, including its U.S. Gulf Coast LNG export project — now named Woodside Louisiana LNG — for $1.2 billion. The firm said it was targeting final investment decision readiness from the first quarter of 2025.
(Reuters - Reporting by Shivangi Lahiri and Roshan Thomas in Bengaluru; editing by Alan Barona)