MELBOURNE, July 21 (Reuters) - Woodside Petroleum WPL.AX reported a 10 percent rise in oil and gas output in the June quarter, while revenue fell 8 percent due to weaker oil prices, but said on Thursday it expects third quarter revenue to improve.
Production rose to 22.2 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe) in the second quarter from 20.1 mmboe in the same quarter last year, but fell from the first quarter due to major planned maintenance work at the North West Shelf liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities.
Second-quarter revenue fell to $825 million from $898 million a year earlier, mostly due to the impact of weaker March quarter oil prices on June quarter LNG contract prices, which are tied to oil prices on a three-month lag.
"We will see higher realised LNG contract prices reflected in Q3," Woodside Chief Executive Peter Coleman said in a statement, adding that was due to the rise in oil prices in the second quarter.
Woodside made no comment on its full-year output target of 86-93 mmboe, suggesting it still expects to hit that level.
Amid delays in the ramp up Chevron (NYSE:CVX) Corp's CVX.N massive Gorgon liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant off Western Australia, Woodside said Chevron is still targeting first LNG in mid-2017 at its smaller Wheatstone LNG project, where Woodside is a partner.