Woodside Energy share price jumps as revenue hits record

Woodside Energy raised its annual production outlook on Thursday after posting record revenue as it benefited from firmer energy prices and its merger with BHP’s petroleum assets, sending its shares soaring.

The company became a top-10 global independent oil and gas producer after its merger with BHP’s petroleum arm was finalised this year, helping it double its output.

Woodside gained from weaker energy supplies after the Ukraine war, which pushed liquefied natural gas prices to new highs and forced buyers to scramble for alternate supplies from countries like Australia.

It now expects to produce between 153-million barrels of oil equivalent per day (mboe) and 157 mboe over 2022, up from its July forecast of 145 mboe to 153 mboe.

Shares of the company rose as much as 7.2% to A$34.895 and were set for their best day since March, if the gains held. The broader energy stocks index was 3.5% higher.

Woodside also said it produced 51.2 mboe during the quarter, the first full quarter of production since its merger with BHP’s petroleum arm, compared with 22.2 mboe a year earlier.

The company was able to charge an average price of about $102 per barrel of oil equivalent (boe) in the September quarter, nearly twice the $59 per boe last year.

This, along with the newly acquired BHP assets, helped boost quarterly revenue to $5.86bn, from $1.53bn a year ago.

Woodside also said its Sangomar oil and gas project in Senegal was 70% complete at the end of September, with first production targeted for the latter half of 2023.

Its “crown jewel” — the $5.7bn Scarborough gas project on the coast of Western Australia — which holds about 11-trillion cubic feet of gas and the Pluto Train 2, was 21% complete, Woodside said, with the first LNG cargo targeted for 2026.

Reuters