Production

Exploration and energy producer, Origin Energy (ASX:ORG) have released its quarterly production report to December 31 2012 where it reported flat production and flat revenue. The report and numbers below includes only its exploration and production arm, but excludes energy generation and sales.

• Origin Energy reported steady revenue and production for the December half financial year.
• Origin production fell 5 percent to 62 petajoules.

Australia's largest gold miner, Newcrest Mining (ASX:NCM) has production down 25 percent due to an electrical system problem.

• Newcrest expects the plant to return to full capacity within 10 days.
• A company statement said, "Newcrest's maintenance team and the equipment manufacturer are addressing the issue and are working to have the plant ready for restart in the coming few days."

Woodside Petroleum (WPL) oil and gas full year production may have fallen 11 per cent compared to the previous corresponding period, but it has exceeded the company's full-year production guidance. The company's 64.6 million barrels of oil equivalent (MMboe) for its full year production had beaten its previous forecast of 62-64 MMboe.

Australian energy firm Santos (STO) has reported a 9 per cent fall in production for the three months to December compared to the previous year but says that its full year production is still within its guidance. Santos produced 11.7 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe) in the last quarter of 2011, giving the energy firm a full year production of 47.2 mmboe, 5 per cent down compared to 2010.

Anglo-Australian company BHP Billiton (BHP) expects to exceed its iron ore production guidance of 159 million tonnes after its first half production increased by 23 per cent.

BHP produced 41,072 million tonnes of iron ore in the second quarter, which is four per cent higher than the first three months of the the fiscal year. The iron ore production of the company increased 23 per cent to 80,644 million tonnes for the first half compared to the previous corresponding period.

The full year revenue of Iluka Resources (ILU) has spiked up by 75.7 per cent to $1.536 billion compared to its previous year, the mineral sands producer reported today. This was recorded after its revenue for the three months to December rose by 53 per cent to $434 million.

Shares in Newcrest Mining (NCM) have declined by 99 per cent at $30.08 yesterday after the market reacted to the downgrade in the company's gold production in Monday. The share prices were shortly below $30 before the day ended to its closing price, which is currently the lowest the company has plumbed in more than 27 months.

Mining giant BHP Billiton (BHP) is on its move to grow its US shale gas assets of its newly-acquired Petrohawk Energy as it boosts the gas production by 12 percent on the previous quarter and seems to have beaten its 2011 capital spending target. The mining company have raised its assets from 85.5 billion cubic feet in the previous quarter to 96.5 billion cubic feet in the three months to September 30.

RioTinto (RIO) invests an additional $2.7 billion to complete the $3.3 billion modernisation of aluminium smelter in Kitimat. The project is designed to meet the increasing demand from the Asia Pacific Region.

The Kitimat project is going to increase the smelter's production capacity by more than 48 per cent to 420,000 tonnes a year. The $3.3 billion project is expected to be completed in 2014.

Newcrest Mining (NCM) has slashed its guidance for 2011 after a failure at its Lihir Island mine power station. The gold miner bought Lihir for $10 billion last year and it could now cost the company $170 million in annual revenue.