Woodside reports record H1 profit, eyes M&A opportunities

• Woodside Petroleum (OTCPK:WOPEF, OTCPK:WOPEY) says it booked record first-half profit of $1.1B as it focuses on new exploration basins in frontier markets.
• Underlying profit, which stripped out losses linked to an asset sale in the Gulf of Mexico, jumped 33% Y/Y to $1.14B, in line with analyst forecasts.
• H1 revenues rose 24% Y/Y to $3.55B, helped by the resumption of oil output at Vincent after being idled for almost a year, combined with a full year of reliable production from the Pluto gas-export project offshore northwestern Australia.
• CEO Peter Coleman sees improved M&A opportunities; asked if Woodside would be interested in any Apache (NYSE:APA) assets in Australia, including the Wheatstone stake, the CEO said his company will “continue to look at those assets and other assets around the world.”