Speaking at the APPEA oil and gas industry conference in Adelaide, the head of the petroleum division, Mr Phil Aiken, said output was expected to jump by 45% from 125 million barrels of oil equivalent a year to 180 mmboe a year, with the Gulf of Mexico underpinning the surge.

The rise of the Gulf of Mexico, along with new developments in Algeria, Pakistan and Australia, had positioned the petroleum division to generate up to half the resources giant’s revenues within five years, particularly if crude oil prices stay high due to continuing instability in the Middle East.

Mr Aiken said the Typhoon field in the Gulf of Mexico was currently producing 40,000 bopd with 50 million cubic feet of gas. The Mad Dog field was due to begin production in 2004 with the Atlantis field coming on stream in 2005 at a rate of 50,000 bopd. The company also planned to drill up to 10 exploration wells in the Gulf of Mexico over the next two years.

This would offset declining oil production from Bass Strait and the Laminaria and Corallina oil fields in the Timor Sea.