could be down today ??BHP Billiton Ltd said total petroleum...

could be down today ??

BHP Billiton Ltd said total petroleum product for the three months to September 30 was 27.6 million barrels of oil equivalent, down 14 per cent on the previous corresponding quarter.

The result was also down nine per cent on the June quarter.

In its September quarter production report, BHP Billiton said oil and condensate and natural gas production both fell.

Oil and condensate was down 20 per cent to 12.4 million barrels on the previous corresponding quarter while natural gas fell 11 per cent to 75.6 billion cubic feet.

The company said oil condensate production was impacted by planned maintenance at Liverpool Bay and Bruce in the UK, which resulted in shutdowns of 14 and 54 days, respectively.

"Production was also lower due to natural field decline at Bass Strait, Laminaria, Griffin, North West Shelf and Liverpool Bay and the divestment in February 2004 of our producing assets in Bolivia," it said.

The decline was partly offset by new production at the Ohanet field in Algeria and Boris North in the US, both of which were commissioned in the third quarter of last year.

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Natural gas production was also impacted by the Liverpool Bay and Bruce shutdowns, and was partly offset by increased production at Bass Strait and North West Shelf.

Alumina production was also down, but aluminium, copper, silver and iron ore were up.

Alumina fell by five per cent to one million tonnes, compared to the previous September quarter.

"This mainly reflects scheduled and unscheduled calciner outages leading to an increased stockpiling of hydrate at Worsley (in Australia) and lower production at Alumar (in Brazil) due to scheduled maintenance carried out in July," BHP Billiton said.

Copper rose 16 per cent to 248,000 tonnes, mostly reflecting restoration of full capacity at Chile's Escondida mine.

Silver jumped 11 per cent to 11.8 million ounces following record quarterly mill throughput at Cannington in Australia.

Iron ore production was a record 22.5 million tonnes, up eight per cent on the previous corresponding quarter and up 10 per cent on the June quarter.

"The increase reflects additional capacity following the completion of area C, products and capacity expansion and accelerated expansion projects at Western Australian Iron ore, underpinned by strong customer demand for iron ore products," the company said.

Metallurgical coal production rose by two per cent to 9.3 million tonnes.

Energy coal production was up 10 per cent to 23.2 million tonnes after production was ramped up at the Mr Arthur Coal mine in Australia.

But manganese ore touched a record 1.4 million tonnes, up 20 per cent, due to strong customer demand in all markets, particularly China, Japan and Europe.

Manganese alloys production was up 33 per cent to 195,000 tonnes on the previous September quarter but was in line with the June quarter.

BHP Billiton produced one million carats of diamonds from the Ekati mine, but this was down 36 per cent on the previous corresponding quarter reflecting processing of lower grade ore.

Nickel was down five per cent to 19,600 tonnes due to lower production at the company's Cerro Matoso mine in Colombia following unseasonably heavy rain during the quarter.

Hot briquetted iron production remains suspended as investigations into the gas explosion at the Boodarie Iron plant in Australia in May.

BHP Billiton shares ended on Wednesday at $13.63.