Australian energy giant Woodside yesterday reported a modest 2.1 percent rise in annual profit to A$1.82 billion dollars (US$1.64 billion) on record sales volumes, despite lower commodity prices.
Woodside said a slump in the oil price shaved A$1.9 billion off last year’s revenue, weighing against record sales of 80.7 million barrels of oil.
Chief executive Don Voelte said Asia was leading the world’s economies out of the global crunch, with strong demand for liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Taiwan, Japan and South Korea .
“Oil prices have recovered from their lows in early 2009 and, despite current global economic conditions, the fundamental drivers for medium and long-term LNG demand remain strong for both the Asia-Pacific and Atlantic basins,” Voelte said in a statement.
“Recession-moderated forecasts still indicate that LNG demand will double through 2009 to 2020,” he said.
Woodside in December announced an ambitious push into the booming LNG sector, and Voelte said the emerging markets of China and India would be key drivers of long-term demand, along with Singapore, Thailand and Pakistan.
“Our view is that the demand in the region from both traditional and non-traditional markets is sufficient to support all of our projects,” Woodside said.
The Australian giant aims to be among the world’s top LNG producers by 2020 and launched a US$2.3 billion share offer to boost three developments in Western Australia, home of the country’s burgeoning LNG industry.
Woodside said it was on track for first production from its Pluto plant by late this year, while talks continued with the East Timor government over the stalled Sunrise project in the Timor Sea.
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