Woodside year still a record -

AFTER lowering the bar for its production forecast twice last year, Woodside Petroleum yesterday confirmed it had been able to meet its latest target.
Australia's largest independent oil and gas company produced a record 67.9 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe) last year, up 14 per cent from 2005.
The output figure was at the top end of the revised guidance of 67 million to 68 million boe given in November, but well below the 76 million boe forecast in February, which had been lowered to 72 million boe in July.
"The result came in a little above our expectation," UBS oil and gas analyst Gordon Ramsay said.
Woodside's annual revenue was a record $3.8 billion - up 39 per cent from 2005 - due to higher commodity prices and increased sales volumes.
The company had lowered its production target due to disappointing production from two of its projects - Enfield off Western Australia and Chinguetti off the west African nation of Mauritania - and the late commissioning of its $1.1 billion Otway gas project off Victoria.
In its production report released yesterday, Woodside said the construction of its onshore gas processing plant at Otway continued to incur "significant construction delays versus schedule during the holiday season".
It said it would release an update on the project, which is already nine months behind schedule, with its annual financial results on February 21.
"We'll have to wait for an update on the Otway project, but it looks like there could be a possibility of further delays," Mr Ramsay said.
Goldman Sachs JBWere estimated Woodside would lose 500,000 boe of production for every quarter Otway was delayed.
The Enfield project has produced less than expected because one of its main producing wells had to be shut in when water and sand started spilling out.
In a bid to restore production rates, it will begin a drilling program in late March after completing a new seismic survey.
Chinguetti has turned out to be a much more geologically complex field than originally expected. It was built to produce up to 75,000 boe a day.
But daily production in the December quarter fell to 23,000 boe from 31,000 boe in the September quarter due to natural field decline.
Woodside and its joint venture partners began drilling an infill well in late December to help maintain production at a rate of 20,000 to 30,000 boe a day.
One of Woodside's partners in the Chinguetti development, Hardman Resources, was recently acquired by Ireland's Tullow Oil. In the quarterly report, Woodside said it "continues to examine options to maximise the value of its Mauritanian holdings".
When asked if that indicated a possible sale, Woodside spokesman Roger Martin said: "We continue to look at the best ways to get value from the assets. I can't really go further than that."
Woodside said it had recently been advised the $US850 million ($1.1 billion) BHP-operated Neptune project in the Gulf of Mexico remained on schedule to produce its first oil in late 2007.
Woodside added that "stress to the schedule and budget is being observed in the [tension-leg platform] installation and development drilling campaigns".
Its shares rose 90c to $36.60.