BHP Billiton FY15 Group Production Up 9%

(RTTNews) - BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP, BHP.AX, BBL, BLT.L), the world's biggest miner, said its group production for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2015 increased by 9%.

The company said its iron ore production for the fourth quarter rose 6% year-over-year to 60.09 million tons.

For the fiscal year 2015, the company's iron ore production rose 14% to a record 232.5 million tons. The company forecasts fiscal 2016 iron ore production to increase by 6% to 247 million tons.

Fourth quarter production of metallurgical coal, which is used in steel making, increased 17% from last year to 11.39 million tons.

Metallurgical coal production for the fiscal 2015 increased 13% to a record 42.6 million tons. Production is forecast to decrease in the fiscal 2016 to 40 million tons as a result of the closure of Crinum. Longwall moves at the Broadmeadow and Crinum mines, and wash-plant shutdowns at Goonyella and Peak Downs mines are scheduled for the September 2015 quarter.

Energy coal production grew 2% from the prior-year quarter to 10.60 million tons in the fourth quarter. For fiscal year 2015, energy coal production fell 5% to 41.0 million tons as anticipated. Production is forecast to remain broadly unchanged in fiscal 2016 at 40 million tons.

The miner said its total petroleum production for the fourth quarter fell 2% from the year-ago period to 63.2 million barrels of oil equivalent or boe.

Total petroleum production for fiscal 2015 increased 4% to a record 256 MMboe. Petroleum production is forecast to decrease by 7% in the fiscal 2016 to 237 MMboe.

Copper production for the fourth quarter fell 7% to 435,000 tons. Total copper production for fiscal 2015 was unchanged at 1.7 million tons, as strong operating performance at Escondida offset the impact of a mill outage at Olympic Dam. Total copper production is forecast to decrease by 12% in fiscal 2016 to 1.5 million tons.

BHP Billiton Chief Executive Officer, Andrew Mackenzie, said, "Our businesses performed well over the 2015 financial year. We have improved the performance of our equipment, reduced costs, and increased volumes despite a significant reduction in capital spend. Our simpler portfolio following the demerger of South32 will help us maintain the pace of operational improvement, further supporting cash generation, margins and returns."

BHP Billiton also said it expects Underlying attributable profit in the June 2015 half year to include additional charges in a range of US$350 million to US$650 million, tied mainly to writedowns and redundancies in its copper business.

On July 15, the company said that it expects to recognise an impairment charge of about US$2 billion post-tax against the carrying value of its Onshore US assets.

BHP Billiton will report its financial results for the year ended June 30, 2015 on August 25.