Any thoughts that the Federal Government's intervention last year in stopping Shell's takeover of Woodside would have won it some brownie points were quickly dispelled after Mr Goode's comments at his company's AGM in Melbourne.

While Australia is currently enjoying a trade energy balance, he argued that it would deteriorate to the point where Australia would have a projected deficit of between $7 billion and $8 billion in the next eight years.

"We call on the Government to examine changes to the petroleum resource rent tax to encourage deep-water exploration and the development of marginal oil accumulations and stranded gas reserves," Mr Goode said.

He also urged the Government to introduce internationally competitive depreciation write-off periods for oil and gas facilities and pipelines.

At the AGM, managing director Mr John Akehurst told shareholders he believed production in 2002 would match the record production levels of 2001.

However, he warned that profits would depend on the level of the petroleum resource rent tax the company paid, international crude oil prices and the value of the dollar against the greenback.

Mr Akehurst said Woodside had made a good start to the year with oil production from the Laminaria and Corallina fields in the Timor Sea and from the Wanaea and Cossack fields in the North West Shelf currently ahead of plan for the year.

The North West Shelf had seen a reduction in gas demand as a result of the renewed technical difficulties at BPH Billiton's DRI plant in Port Hedland.

Mr Akehurst said the company's strategy would be to continue to explore for oil in two specific frontier areas in Australia, bring to market its significant gas reserves, discover new gas reserves offshore Darwin and the Otway Basin and build a portfolio of assets outside Australia.