By David Winning

SYDNEY--Woodside Petroleum Ltd. reported a sharp jump in fourth-quarter sales revenue after its oil and natural gas fetched higher prices, while reversing some earlier writedowns of key assets in Australia.

Woodside reported sales revenue of US$2.85 billion in the three months through December, up 86% on the previous quarter. That reflected a 53% increase in its average realized price fetched by its oil and gas production to US$90 per barrel of oil equivalent and a 22% rise in sales volumes to 31.8 million BOE.

Woodside said its fourth-quarter output of oil and natural gas totalled 22.6 million BOE, up 2% on the previous quarter.

In a separate statement, Woodside said its accounts for the 2021 fiscal year would include a non-cash impairment reversal of US$582 million. It comprises a US$319 million reversal related to its Pluto-Scarborough development, and a US$263 million reversal related to its investment in the North West Shelf gas project.

"The impairment reversal for Pluto-Scarborough is due to the additional value generated by Scarborough and Pluto Train 2," Woodside said. "The impairment reversal for NWS Gas is due to updated cost and production profiles including the incorporation of the impact of third-party processing agreements, and improved short-term pricing assumptions."

It will also reduce its onerous contract provision for the Corpus Christi LNG sale and purchase agreement by US$95 million.

Woodside is in the process of combining with BHP Group Ltd.'s oil-and-gas business, which will see its shareholders own 52% of the combined basis. The Perth-based company has forecast savings from the deal at more than US$400 million, with the deal creating one of the world's 10 largest producers of liquefied natural gas.

"The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission provided informal clearance of the merger in December and clearance from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. was recently received," Chief Executive Meg O'Neill said on Thursday. "This provides momentum towards completion of the merger which is targeted in the second quarter of 2022."

Woodside also recently outlined a goal of investing US$5 billion by 2030 in energy markets that are emerging as countries seek to reduce their carbon emissions.

The Perth-based company is planning to build a facility near Kwinana in Western Australia state that can produce hydrogen and ammonia. It also plans a facility in northern Tasmania state that initially would produce hydrogen and 200,000 metric tons of ammonia annually.

Earlier this week, Woodside said it had started early engineering and design work on the H2OK hydrogen project in Oklahoma. It aims to have a 290-megawatt facility at the site, producing up to 90 tons of liquid hydrogen daily through electrolysis for sale the heavy transport sector.


Write to David Winning at david.winning@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

01-19-22 1814ET