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Jeffrey Hutton is a Morningstar contributor.

BHP Billiton (BHP) on Wednesday stood by its investment last year in oil and gas amid falling energy prices, and took steps to hose down expectations for a quick ramp up in capital expenditure to reverse its first slide in net profit since before the global financial crisis.

The company has said it plans to spend roughly US$80 billion on developing projects and acquisitions in the coming years. It bought US energy company Petrohawk in August 2011 for US$12 billion as part of a push into shale gas projects.

But chief executive officer Marius Kloppers told analysts and media that while he believes world economies will increasingly switch to gas from coal, he may have delayed the decision to buy Petrohawk.

"If we knew where the gas price would be today, would we have made the acquisition? We probably would have taken the easier course of going and sitting in front of a screen if we could have predicted that," Kloppers said.

"Management will act. And if the facts change, it will change its plans."

Kloppers stressed that the company wouldn't rush projects and seemed to soften the ground for an eventual slowdown in iron ore demand that will come sooner rather than later as Chinese and Indian economies mature.

"If I had to make a choice on a project that will only start producing in 10 years' time and would take another 15 to pay back after that, we would probably take some pause," Kloppers said.

The company on Wednesday underwhelmed investors with a US$9.94 billion interim profit - short of expectations and down on US$10.7 billion a year earlier because of falling prices for some commodities on the back of a slowdown in some European economies.

BHP decided not to raise its dividend or launch a share buyback.

"We made a big push on dividends in the last year where we rebased our dividend," Kloppers said, referring to a 20 per cent increase in the final dividend last year.

"If your return on capital expectations is unchanged and the number of shares is unchanged, you grow your dividend approximately by the volume outlook of the company."

BHP's base metal division saw underlying earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) more than halve to US$1.6 billion, while stainless steel underlying earnings fell to US$1 million.

The aluminium division reported an underlying loss of US$67 million because of rising costs. Still, record iron ore production saw the unit's earnings rise 36 per cent to US$7.9 billion.

Petroleum earnings rose 38 per cent to US$3.9 billion, in part on the takeover of Petrohawk.

"Key divisional under-performers were copper and coking coal," Morningstar global head of basic materials Mark Taylor said.

"The petroleum division produced better-than-expected EBIT. Ironically, this division was where we had greatest concern, given very low US domestic gas prices - that concern was apparently misplaced."

BHP hinted it may switch investment focus over time, stressing it maintained "significant flexibility in its investment pipeline" and would focus on businesses where it could obtain superior returns.

The company recently announced plans to sell its diamonds division and its stake in the Rio Tinto-operated Richards Bay mineral sands operation in South Africa. The miner said portfolio management would remain "an integral component of our overarching strategy".

Slower dividend growth

Analysts are now preparing for a slower rate of growth in dividends from BHP.

"The rate of dividend per share growth is expected to remain significantly slower than the phenomenal 30 per cent growth rate posted since 2001," said Merrill Lynch analyst Peter O'Connor.

The impact of the global financial crisis in 2009 prompted BHP to keep dividends unchanged. In general, though, distributions have risen almost every year since 2002.

"We have had contrasting fortunes in different parts of our portfolio," Kloppers said.

"We run our business on the basis we will run them if they produce cash and produce returns and the customer can take the product. If they don't, we will continue to take action. We will continue to optimise our portfolio in those areas of products."

To watch a video on BHP's earnings result, please click here.