Anglo-Australian resources giant BHP Billiton Tuesday reported record production of alumina, aluminium, copper, nickel, iron ore and manganese ore for the nine months ended March 31, 2007, underpinned by strong customer demand.
The company's alumina and aluminium production and sales for the first nine months of the current fiscal year were all-time records. Alumina production rose 6% year on year during the period to 3.316 million mt, while aluminium production rose 2% to 1.006 million mt. Alumina output for the three months ended March 31, 2007 edged up 1% to 1.085 million mt compared with the same quarter of 2006, while aluminium production also rose 1% to 331,000 mt.
Over the nine-month period, aluminium production at the Worsley development project in Australia continued its ramp up, while Paranam in Suriname, South America, achieved full utilization of its expanded capacity, and Alumar in Brazil continued to perform strongly, BHP Billiton said.
The company's copper production for the March quarter jumped 22% to 357,600 mt compared with the previous year, while output for the first nine months edged up 4% year on year to 908,000 mt. The rise in production was attributed to the successful ramp up of the Escondida sulfide leach project and Spence project, both in Chile. During the quarter Spence produced 33,500 mt, which is equivalent to 67% of nameplate capacity on an annualized basis.
BHP's nickel production for the nine months ended March was a record, reflecting strong performances at all operations. Nickel output in the March quarter shot up 14% to 45,800 mt, while output for the nine-month period rose 4% to 138,600 mt compared with the previous year.
Record production and sales were also achieved for iron ore for the nine months ended March. This reflected increased production from the recently expanded Western Australia iron ore operations in response to continuing strong customer demand. Cyclonic weather and tie-in activity, however, impacted the Western Australia iron ore operations during the current quarter. Iron ore production for the nine months to March jumped 9% to 72.451 million mt, while production for the March quarter rose 8% to 22.884 million mt from the same period last year.
Stronger demand also drove up manganese production for the nine months and quarter ended March. Manganese ore output for the quarter jumped 18% from 2006 to 1.452 million mt, while the nine-month output figure increased 15% to 4.49 million mt.
Petroleum production rises 6% year on year
BHP Billiton produced 27.68 million barrels of oil equivalent in the quarter ended March, up 6% from 26.02 million boe in the corresponding period of 2006.
The company's crude, condensate and gas liquids production for the quarter was 13.24 million barrels, down 1% from a year ago. But natural gas production climbed 14% to a record 86.67 Bcf for the three-month period.
BHP Billiton attributed the year-on-year rise in total production in the March quarter to improved facility uptime, reduced impact from the weather and increased gas sales.
The company's total production for the first nine months of the fiscal year was in line with 2005-2006's 84.89 million boe at 85.53 million boe, comprising 42.13 million barrels of liquids and 260.47 Bcf of gas. Natural field decline has been completely offset by operational improvements, BHP Billiton said.
BHP Billiton earlier this year said it expected its petroleum production for the 2006-2007 fiscal year to be slightly below the 115.95 million boe recorded for 2005-2006, due to the delay in the startup of the BP-operated Atlantis South field in the Gulf of Mexico to late in calendar 2007.
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