SYDNEY, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Australian mining giant BHP has released their nine month operational review on Wednesday with mixed results, posting productional gains in iron and coal, but a downturn in their petroleum and copper production.
Chief executive of BHP, Andrew Mackenzie said in a statement that his company has made over 7 billion U.S. dollars of divestments as part of an organizational restructure, and taken measures to cut costs, with their combined petroleum interests of high concern.
"We continued our high-investment return in shale with the approval of two more rigs in the Haynesville supported by our hedging strategy," Mackenzie said.
"Plans to monetize a portion of our non-core acreage for value, such as parts of the southern Hawkville, are underway."
However, the company said their 15 percent decrease in total petroleum output compared to the comparable period last year was due to deferral of development activity in the United States, but maintained they expect to reach their full year guidance of 200 million to 210 million barrels of oil equivalent.
The mining giant was also hit hard by the 44-day strike at their Escondida copper mine in Chile, with total copper output for the nine-month period dropping 20 percent to 939,000 metric tons, resulting in guidance for the full year to be reduced to between 1.33 to 1.36 million metric tons.
But it wasn't all bad news for the miner, with their iron ore production rising 3 percent over the corresponding period, to a new record of 171 million metric tons year to date, or 199 million when figured on a 100 percent basis.
The Australian miner also had a good result with their coal production for the past nine months up 2 percent to 31 million tons, however, due to the damage caused by ex-Cyclone Debbie to the rail infrastructure network, the miner has reduced their yearly guidance to between 39 million and 41 million tons of metallurgical coal.
BHP also noted their continuing evaluation of their gas discoveries in Trinidad and Tobago, with their appraisal well in the Gulf of Mexico continuing to be drilled, which will benefit their understanding of the scale of their Caico oil discovery.
At 1011 local time AEST, shares in BHP were up 0.73 percent, or 17.5 Australian cents, to trade at 24.11 dollars (18.18 U.S. dollars) per share.
