MELBOURNE, Oct 15 (Reuters) - Woodside Petroleum WPL.AX , Australia's biggest independent oil and gas producer, reported a 45 percent drop in third-quarter revenue due to weak oil and gas prices, and narrowed its full-year production forecast.
Woodside also said it has reached a conditional agreement to sell its stake in the Laminaria-Corallina joint venture, without revealing the price or buyer it has lined up. It said it would disclose the impact on its 2015 profit in January.
A media report in June speculated the oil fields in the Timor Sea might fetch more than $100 million. The fields are co-owned by Spain's Repsol REP.MC , following its takeover of Talisman Energy earlier this year.
Woodside's revenue for the September quarter fell to $1.09 billion from $1.96 billion a year ago, with sales volumes down 1.6 percent.
It tweaked its forecast for full-year production to between 88 million and 93 million barrels of oil equivalent from 86 to 94 mmboe. That is down from record output of 95.5 mmboe last year.
Woodside has been chasing growth by buying assets as its own major undeveloped projects face challenges in a world of low oil prices. Its output growth over the next few years will stem mainly from its $3.6 billion acquisition of stakes in Australian and Canadian assets from Apache Corp (N:APA) earlier this year.
Last month Woodside was rebuffed in an A$11.7 billion ($8.5 billion) offer for Oil Search Ltd OSH.AX , which it wanted for its stake in the Papua New Guinea Liquefied Natural Gas project, one of the world's lowest-cost, expandable LNG projects.
Woodside Chief Executive Peter Coleman recently said he did not want to raise the offer as it would hurt his own shareholders. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1250T9
($1 = 1.3701 Australian dollars)