Australia's Santos reduces its annual production forecast due to weather and vessel delays

Australia's Santos on Thursday narrowed its full-year output forecast due to a slower-than-anticipated start-up of the BW Opal floating production, storage and offloading vessel as well as a slow recovery from floods at its Cooper Basin project.

Second-largest producer of gas in the country expects to produce between 89 and 91 million barrels (mmboe), as opposed to its previous projections of 90-95mmboe.

The company said that "software issues affecting safety systems aboard the BW Opal FPS resulted in a shutdown unplanned of two weeks in September, resulting in the ramp-up for the Barossa Project."

Santos, recently the target of a $18.7 billion offer by a consortium headed by Abu Dhabi National Oil Company reported a 11% drop in sales revenue for the quarter ending September 30. This was below Visible Alpha’s estimate of $1.1 billion.

The company reported sales of $1.27bn a year ago.

The company has also reduced its forecast for annual sales to 93-95 mmboe from its previous projections of 92-99 mmboe.

(source: Reuters)