Woodside revenue drops, domgas capacity up

Woodside Energy has reported a 12 per cent revenue slide between quarters in its March financials, owing to lower LNG prices and a dip in global production volumes.

The Scarborough project developer generated $US2.969 billion ($4.6 billion) in revenue over the three months to the end of March – reporting an average realised price of $US63 per barrel of oil equivalent.

The figure was down from $US3.33 billion of revenue made in the previous quarter and 31 per cent lower than the same quarter a year earlier, when revenue hit $US4.3 billion.

Woodside averaged $US85/boe in the March quarter last year, with prices elevated by geopolitical instability overseas.

The Meg O’Neill-led company said the result came from a mix of factors, including lower prices and reduced output from project including Pluto and Pyrenees off the Western Australian coast.

Pluto’s output was diminished by an offshore trip and separate electrical fault, which reduced its reliability to below 95 per cent for the period.

Woodside said it took a final investment decision at the Xena-3 well during the quarter in a move to support ongoing Pluto production.

The company also received approval to extend gas flows through the Pluto-Karratha gas plant connector until December 2025 – a move it says will allow it to accelerate production of both LNG and domestic gas for the local market.

Woodside said the move would allow it to increase the allocation of domestic gas process at the North West Shelf from 15 per cent to 30 per cent during the period.

Pyrenees, which Woodside recently took off the market, was impacted by planned floating production storage and offloading vessel maintenance in Singapore and is expected to return to production in the current quarter.

Woodside revealed a produced-water leak was identified at Pyrenees in January and reported to the regulator.

Meanwhile, the Scarborough project and Pluto’s second production train are currently 62 per cent complete and remain on track for first LNG in 2026.

It won’t be the next Woodside project to enter production, with the Sangomar oil field off Senegal 96 per cent complete and on the verge of producing.

Ms O’Neill said the company remained on-track to meet its full-year guidance and had delivered significant progress across its portfolio.

“In Western Australia, a milestone was marked with the arrival on-side of the first two modules for Pluto Train 2 and 13 modules were in place at the end of the quarter,” she said.

“Offshore, two flowlines were installed at the Scarborough field and drilling of the initial wells commenced.”

Decommissioning work continued at Griffin, Stybarrow and Enfield of the WA coast. The Transocean Endurance drill rig is currently carrying out a plug and abandonment campaign at Stybarrow.

On the renewables and clean energy front, Woodside said it had continued to converse with potential hydrogen offtakers at its proposed H2OK hydrogen project in Oklahoma despite uncertainty over the project’s tax credit eligibility under the Inflation Reduction Act.

Commercial agreements are in progress on the proposed Woodside Solar project near Karratha, while the company has set a hydrogen supply target of 2025 for its H2Perth refueller project.

The refueller would allow Woodside to sell hydrogen to industrial and public customers and is in the planning stage.

The quarterly comes less than a week out from Woodside’s AGM, where chair Richard Goyder will run for reelection amid a campaign from activist shareholders to oust him from the position.

Woodside shares were flat in early trade.