Oil and gas producer BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP,BHP.AX) on Wednesday reported record production of petroleum for the first quarter ended September 30, helped by the absence of weather related interruptions. Buoyed by the excellent performance, the company said it is on track to deliver 10% compound annual growth in petroleum production for the 2010 financial year.
Production of petroleum products increased 18% to 41.21 million barrels of oil equivalent, or boe, from 34.80 million boe in the previous year period. In the June quarter, petroleum products production totaled 37.56 million boe.
The company attributed the all-time high production to the successful delivery of projects in the deepwater of Gulf of Mexico and Western Australia over the past two years. Operational performance was steady and benefited from the absence of weather related interruptions, although partly offset by natural field decline.
Natural gas liquid production for the quarter rose 10% from last year to 3.022 million bbl, benefiting from Shenzi operating above designed capacity, increased production from Atlantis and the absence of weather related interruptions.
Natural gas production increased 4% to 99.24 bcf due to stronger demand for gas in Pakistan and the contribution from Shenzi and Atlantis. Production from Bass Strait in Australia increased sequentially due to expected seasonal demand.
Production of crude oil & condensate advanced 34% from the previous year to 21.648 million bbl with significantly higher year-over-year contribution from Atlantis and Shenzi as well as the absence of weather related interruptions.
Iron ore production grew 1% to 30.106 tonnes from 29.824 tonnes, but improved 11% sequentially. The company noted that the increase reflects improved performance at Western Australia Iron Ore and all three pellet plants at Samarco in Brazil operating since July 2009.
Production of alumina dropped 2% from last year to 841,000 tonnes, while Aluminium production edged up 1% to 313,000 tonnes.
Among base metals, copper production dropped 8% year-over-year to 283.9 thousand tonnes, while lead production rose 5% to 61,370 tonnes. Production of zinc increased 11% in the first quarter to 46,425 tonnes. Molybdenum production dropped 60% to 241 tonnes in the latest quarter.
The company noted that quarterly production records were achieved at North West Shelf and Hunter Valley Energy Coal in Australia and at Zamzama in Pakistan. During the quarter, Shenzi in the U.S. and Samarco in Brazil operated above nameplate capacity.
During the quarter, repairs to the Laguna Seca mill at Escondida in Chile were completed, although quarterly production was impacted due to the plant repair downtime, BHP noted.
The company said it spent US$104 million on minerals exploration during the quarter, of which US$95 million was expensed. Petroleum exploration expenditure for the quarter was US$29 million, of which US$26 million was expensed.
Further, BHP said that one of the two haulage systems at Olympic Dam in Australia was damaged on October 6, due to which the company expects ore hoisting to be at about 25% of capacity until full production resumes in the third quarter of the 2010 financial year.
The company said it continues to look for Chinese imports to more closely reflect real demand over the remainder of 2009 calendar year and maintained its view that real demand follow-through in developed economies may not be transparent until mid-2010 calendar year.
Recently BHP and British mining giant Rio Tinto plc (RTP) said they have decided not to proceed with the joint marketing activity of their iron ore production joint venture related to Western Australian iron ore assets, which was proposed on June 5. The joint venture is expected to generate production and development cost savings of above US$10 billion.
BHP closed Tuesday's regular trade on the NYSE at $72.98, down $0.62 or 0.84%, on 4.27 million shares.
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June 12, 2026 17:14 ET Major central bank action was the focus this week in economic news. The European Central Bank became the first major central bank to move in response to the rising inflationary pressures in the backdrop of the conflict in the Middle East. In North America, the U.S. inflation and trade data as well as Canada’s central bank decision gained attention. The Chinese trade data was the main news in Asia.