PERTH (miningweekly.com) - Australian oil and gas major Woodside has nearly doubled its net profit for 2012, driven by increased production and sales revenue.

Woodside told shareholders on Wednesday that net profit for the period had reached a record $2.9-billion, up 98% on the previous financial year, while underlying profit was up 25% to over $2-billion.

The results were underpinned by a 31% increase in production and an associated 30% increase in sales revenue. The miner said that key to these increases was the successful start-up of the Pluto liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant, and higher contributions from the Vincent and North West Shelf facilities.

CEO Peter Coleman noted that the results demonstrated the transformational effect of Pluto on the company’s finances, with excellent early performance at Pluto and a strong foundation business delivering record profit.

“The safe start-up of Pluto marks 2012 as a milestone year for Woodside and cements our position as Australia’s leading LNG operator,” Coleman said.

“We were pleased to be able to deliver this world-class project while also achieving much more during the year. This included realising value for shareholders from the Browse resource through the sale of a minority portion of our equity, and capturing new value-creating opportunities in line with our revised strategy.”

Following the sale of a minority interest in Browse, Woodside’s contingent resources decreased by 468.8-million barrels of oil equivalent, to some 1.7-billion barrels of oil equivalent.

Proved reserves of 1.2-billion barrels of oil equivalent and proved plus probable reserves of 1.5-billion barrels of oil equivalent represented 14 and 17 years of production respectively.  Woodside noted that subject to the successful completion of the farm-in into the Leviathan field, offshore Israel, in 2013, it was anticipated that contingent resources would increase by around 890-million barrels of oil equivalent.

Looking ahead, Woodside’s production target for 2013 remained unchanged at between 88-million and 94-million barrels of oil equivalent, comprising 47% from the North West Shelf gas facilities, 41% from the Pluto LNG, and 12% from its other assets.