SHARES in BHP Billiton soared today as the giant miner boosted copper and nickel production to record levels in the December quarter, enjoying the fruits of its takeover of WMC Resources.

But petroleum production fell in the quarter due to natural field decline and the ongoing disruptions caused by the hurricanes that lashed the Gulf of Mexico last year.
BHP (bhp.ASX:Quote,News), the world's biggest miner, said production from the Olympic Dam mine in South Australia and from the Nickel West mines, both acquired in the $9.2 billion takeover of WMC, had helped it achieve the record copper and nickel numbers.

Copper production for the quarter was up 24 per cent on the previous corresponding period to a record 328,400 tonnes.

BHP Billiton said this was thanks to the contribution from Olympic Dam and record production from the giant Escondida mine in Chile, the world's biggest source of copper.

BHP shares lifted on the news. At 1301 AEDT BHP Billiton shares had advanced 26 cents to $24.73. BHP shares are sitting just below an all-time high of $24.97 and have gained around 57 per cent over the past 12 months.

Nickel production for the quarter raced up 149 per cent on the previous comparable period to a record 49,000 tonnes as the miner finetuned the Nickel West mines and smelters.

Shaw Stockbroking resources analyst John Colnan said there were still more gains to be made from the former WMC assets, but BHP Billiton was more focused on development projects like the $US1.8 billion ($2.39 billion) Ravensthorpe nickel mine and the expansion of Escondida.

Petroleum production for the quarter was down five per cent on the previous comparable period with BHP Billiton blaming the impact of hurricanes on US operations, natural field decline in the Bass Strait and Liverpool Bay and the sale of the Laminaria field.

Mr Colnan said the weak petroleum performance had been well flagged by the company and new projects should see a turnaround.

"Base metals are shining more than petroleum at the moment but I think BHP hope that, once they go through 2006 with their new developments coming through, petroleum will pick up again," he said.

The ramp up of new projects like Mad Dog in the USA, Minerva off the Victorian coast and Angostura in Trinidad and Tobago should see a better petroleum performance next quarter, Mr Colnan said.

Iron ore production for the quarter was 24.61 million tonnes, up four per cent on the September quarter, when output was hit by heavy rainfall and a train derailment.

And metallurgical coal production for the quarter dipped seven per cent compared to the previous corresponding period as output from Queensland Coal slipped due to depletion of reserves and maintenance work.

Aluminium production for the first half of the financial year was two per cent higher than in the previous corresponding period at 678,000 tonnes while half year alumina production was flat at 2.04 million tonnes.

The miner continued to ramp up its molybdenum output to take advantage of skyrocketing prices, with production for the December quarter up 38 per cent to 772 tonnes.