Petroleum production for the quarter was down 5% on the previous comparable period. BHP Billiton said that was partially due to natural field decline in the Bass Strait and Liverpool Bay, and the sale of the Laminaria field to Woodside and Paladin.

But the biggest single factor pushing production down was the impact of hurricanes on US operations.

BHP Billiton warned in October that production from the Typhoon-Boris fields would not return to normal production for months. The company also expected to lose about 4.5 million barrels of oil equivalent from its GoM operations this fiscal year.

BHP’s facility most damaged by Rita was its US$256 million Typhoon tension leg oil platform moored about 165km from New Orleans, which suffered severe damage after being cut from its mooring. The production platform had been producing 400,000 barrels of oil and 60 million cubic feet of gas per day.

In the current financial year, production through Typhoon was expected to account for almost 5% of BHP’s total oil and gas production.

The ramp up of new projects such as Mad Dog in the USA, Angostura in Trinidad and Tobago and the Minerva gas development off the Victorian coast should see the company’s petroleum performance lift in the next quarter, the company said.