As his company returns to profit, the head of Australian company BHP Billiton said he was confident about the long-term outlook for oil prices in particular.

The multinational company, which holds assets from mining to oil, reported a net profit of $3.2 billion for the six months ending Dec. 31. That compares with a loss of $7.8 billion during the first six months of last year, a period that saw crude oil prices hit a historic low.

Oil prices dropped below $30 per barrel last year, but recovered to around $55 per barrel after members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed to limit production and balance a market characterized by oversupply.

BHP Billiton CEO Andrew Mackenzie said that in part helped his company return to profitability.

"We are confident in the long-term outlook for our commodities, particularly oil, with markets expected to rebalance in the near-term," he said in a statement.

Oil prices have been steady at around $55 per barrel. A market snapshot emailed from Bank of America- Merrill Lynch this week said the price for Brent crude oil, the global benchmark, could average $59 per barrel during the second half of 2017.

Outside of sectors like copper, the company in early February gave the green light to spending more than $2 billion to help develop the Mad Dog project in the Gulf of Mexico.

Production by 2022 is expected to be around 140,000 gross barrels of crude oil per day, which the Australian company said defends a preferred deep-water investment of this size.

For its entire portfolio, Mackenzie said holdings were "large, long-life and low-cost." With a balance sheet that's stronger after last year's market downturn, the company said it would raise the overall interim dividend it pays out to shareholders to 40 U.S. cents per share.