Woodside pares production outlook, excluding BHP assets
Calls off stake sale in Sangomar oil project
Delays Mexico Trion oil project decision to 2023
Shares drop 4

MELBOURNE, July 21 Reuters Australia39;s Woodside Energy Group Ltd trimmed its production outlook for 2022 on Thursday and flagged a possible delay to a U.S. oil project inherited with BHP Group39;s petroleum assets, sending its shares down 4.

Woodside, now a top 10 global independent oil and gas producer following its merger with BHP39;s petroleum arm, said the Mad Dog Phase 2 oil project in the Gulf of Mexico, due to start operations in 2022, may face delays after problems were detected in some equipment.

At the same time, it said it expects its full year output, excluding BHP assets, to be between 88 million and 94 million mmboe, down 4 mmboe from its previous forecast, due to new conversion factors, which analysts said was not well explained.

The market is confused and when these sort of complexities are poorly explained by the company, the market fears the worst. It39;s probably an overreaction today, said Dale Koenders, an analyst at Barrenjoey.

The production downgrade came as Woodside reported its second quarter revenue more than doubled to 3.44 billion, including one month39;s contribution from BHP39;s assets, bolstered by booming oil and gas prices in the wake of Russia39;s invasion of Ukraine.

Woodside also said it has called off plans to sell a stake in its 4.6 billion oil project off…