Woodside, Origin post results

Australia’s Woodside Petroleum’s net profits after tax for the first half of the year, at USD 507 million, were 49% higher than during the same period last year, the company said on Wednesday.

“Our free cashflow is up 170% from H1 2016 to USD 445 million and our break-even oil price for the half was USD 34 per barrel,” CEO Peter Coleman said in a statement. “Work on our priorities has been underpinned by Woodside’s ongoing commitment to operational excellence, which delivered world-class unit production costs of USD 4.90 per boe, 6% lower than H1 2016.”

The news came as rival Origin Energy posted a loss of AUD 2.22 billion (USD 1.74 billion) for the 2017 financial year ending June. An impairment charge of AUD 3.1 billion (USD 2.43 billion) drove down the company’s results, Origin said in a statement. Nevertheless, underlying profit, at AUD 550 million (USD 431 million), was up 51% from a year earlier.

“This year, we’ve made good progress towards our commitments, delivering an AUD 1 billion [USD 784 million] reduction in debt and improving business performance,” said CEO Frank Calabria.

The company would not pay a dividend for H2 2017, Origin chairman Gordon Cairns added in the press release.