Oil Search Ltd., Papua New Guinea's biggest oil producer, said second-quarter sales jumped 58 percent from a year earlier to $294.2 million as the company earned record prices for its crude output.

Production slid 13 percent to 2.12 million barrels of oil equivalent in the three months ended June 30 after the sale of assets in the Middle East, Port Moresby-based Oil Search said today in a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange.

Average oil prices for Papua New Guinea crude increased 76 percent from a year earlier in the second quarter, reaching $133.63 a barrel, it said. First-half revenue climbed 52 percent to a record $466.8 million.

Oil Search said today it will consider buying partner AGL Energy Ltd.'s 3 percent stake in an $11 billion liquefied natural gas venture in Papua New Guinea, which also includes Exxon Mobil Corp. and Santos Ltd. The companies decided in May to start initial engineering work, increasing the likelihood the plant will get built.

The partners want to tap rising prices for LNG in North Asia, where utilities are seeking cleaner fuels for power generation. The LNG venture has about 9.3 trillion cubic feet of gas, with a ``high'' content of gas liquids, making development more profitable than some proposed projects in Australia, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Kuwait Energy

Oil Search, which has gained 33 percent in Sydney training in the past six months, dropped 1.4 percent to A$4.93 at 1:20 p.m. local time.

Oil Search agreed in April to sell assets in the Middle East and North Africa to Kuwait Energy Co. for $200 million to build up funds for the LNG project.

LNG is natural gas that has been chilled to liquid form, reducing it to one-six-hundredth of its original volume at minus 161 degrees Celsius (minus 259 Fahrenheit), for transportation by ship to destinations not connected by pipeline. On arrival, it's turned back into gas for distribution to power plants, factories and households.