By Ron Bousso
LONDON (Reuters) - BG Group's (L:BG) second-quarter earnings nearly halved as it took yet another hit from persistently weak crude prices though record oil and gas production limited the damage.
BG, which has accepted a $70 billion (44.88 billion pounds) takeover from Royal Dutch Shell (L:RDSa), on Friday reported a 19 percent rise in output during the quarter to 703,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed).
The company increased its full-year output forecast to "the upper half" of its previous range of 650,000 to 690,000 boed.
"This performance reflects our actions to stabilise and de-risk the business and our teams remain focused on delivering
our 2015 commitments," said BG Chief Executive Helge Lund, who took over in February weeks before Shell's takeover bid.
Growth in the second quarter was driven by Australia and Brazil, where volumes in both more than doubled to an average of 80,000 barrels per day in Australia and 143,000 for Brazil.
BG has been boosting production from the Queensland Curtis liquefied national gas (LNG) facility in Australia, where the first LNG cargo from the second production train was shipped in July.
BG's core earnings dropped to $1.372 billion down 48 percent from a year earlier but above analysts' forecast of $1.328 billion, according to a consensus provided by the company.
BG maintained its dividend at 14.38 cents per share.
Oil prices averaged $60 a barrel in the second quarter of 2015, up about $5 a barrel from the previous quarter but down from $110 a barrel a year earlier.
The gas producer was forced to write off $6 billion of its business in the fourth quarter of 2014, following the slump in crude prices. This followed a string of production outlook cuts after its important gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG) business in Egypt performed disastrously.