Strong oil price boosting BHP Billiton cashflowOct 1 07:46AAPBHP...

Strong oil price boosting BHP Billiton cashflow
Oct 1 07:46
AAP

BHP Billiton Ltd today said its cash flows were benefiting from the strong oil price.

BHP Billiton chief financial officer Chris Lynch said a $US1 increase in the price of oil per barrel was worth $US45 million ($A83 million) to the group's result.

In August, BHP Billiton warned that there was cause for concern about the global economy.

Today, Mr Lynch said the overall economy was "still quite uncertain about where it was headed".

"We see some kind of improvement in various markets and then others are still quite flat.

"But the benefit for our cash flows right now is the level of the oil price," he told reporters after addressing the Merrill Lynch Australasian Conference in New York.

Mr Lynch said copper prices were down a little bit and the aluminium price was still relatively low, but the oil price was very strong.

He said thermal coal prices had been down but were now improving. BHP Billiton had achieved good prices in coking coal, in supplying the steel industry, and iron ore prices were still relatively close to where they had been traditionally.

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Asked about the expected impact on BHP Billiton's overall result from the strong oil price, Mr Lynch said: "A dollar of oil is worth $US45 million per dollar per barrel."

Meanwhile, Santos Ltd chief executive officer John Ellice-Flint said for every dollar increase in the oil price, the company expected an increase of around $A10 million in earnings in the second half.