Woodside to reduce stake in Scarborough

Woodside Petroleum expects to reduce its stakes in Australia's Scarborough gas field and Canada's Kitimat liquefied natural gas project, which would help it reduce its capital expenditure, its chief executive told Reuters.

Woodside is Australia's biggest independent oil and gas producer and holds a 75 per cent stake in the Scarborough gas field and 50 per cent in the Kitimat project.

"We just look at that and say from capital management and risk management point of view we would rather hold less equity," chief executive Peter Coleman told Reuters.

"It also helps us fund through this next expenditure cycle if we can reduce our capital requirement."

Woodside has previously flagged it would make a final investment decision on developing the $11 billion Scarborough field in 2020, but said last month some of its project plans could not be locked down due to its partners.

The company is in discussions with BHP, which owns the remaining 25 per cent of Scarborough, on how much to charge for processing Scarborough gas through the Pluto LNG plant.

Shares in Woodside were up 0.25 per cent to $32.41 at 11.50am AEST.