PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Lower realised prices and impacts related to the Covid-19 pandemic have seen oil and gas major Woodside report a significant fall in revenue during the three months to March.

While production was up by 12% on the previous corresponding period, to 24.2-million barrels of oil equivalent, revenue for the quarter fell from $1.44-billion to $1.11-billion on the back of a 20% decline in realised pricing from the first quarter of 2019.

CEO Peter Coleman noted that production in the first quarter was impacted by cyclone activity, with Tropical Cyclone Damien crossing the Western Australian coast in February, and marking the most significant weather event to pass over Woodside’s production facilities on the Burrup Peninsula.

“Despite the severity of the storm, the team put in an outstanding effort to ensure the safety of our people and our assets and restore normal operations in a matter of days.

“Nevertheless, revenue for the quarter was impacted by reduced trading activity and lower realised prices due to Covid-19 and an unprecedented combination of oversupply and short-term demand destruction.”

Coleman noted that most of the quarter was overshadowed by the growing threat of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has required Woodside to take swift and decisive action to protect its workforce, communities and operations.

“We’ve also had to make tough but prudent decisions to ensure the financial integrity of our business and these mean our spending in 2020 will be reduced by 50% and a targeted final investment decision (FID) on our Scarborough and Pluto Train 2 developments has been deferred from this year to next.

“Still, we are progressing with commercial agreements and regulatory approvals for these world-class developments to ensure they are ready for FID when investment conditions improve.”

Coleman noted that the company has meanwhile made solid progress on its near-term growth projects during the quarter, taking an FID on the Sangomar Field Development Phase 1, in Senegal, and the North West Shelf’s Greater Western Flank Phase 3, as well as making significant execution progress on Pyxis Hub and Julimar-Brunello Phase 2.

The ASX-listed company has maintained its production guidance for the full 2020 at between 97-million and 103-million barrels of oil equivalent, with the company’s revised investment expenditure standing at between $1.7-billion and $1.9-billion.