LNG

Woodside, the Western Australian operator of two LNG plants and oil and gas assets, more than doubled quarterly sales revenue to US$1.53 billion as prices jumped and even as the company executed significant scheduled maintenance activities at both the North West Shelf plant and Pluto LNG.

Woodside Petroleum Acting Chief Executive Meg O’Neill said liquefied natural gas sales revenue in the first quarter of 2021 jumped 22 percent versus the end of 2020 and the Western Australian liquefaction plants operator achieved record spot LNG cargo prices.

Woodside Petroleum, the operator of the Northwest Shelf LNG export plant and Pluto LNG in Western Australia, has named Meg O’Neill as Acting Chief Executive on the agreed retirement of incumbent Peter Coleman from the Board on April 19 and the company on June 3.

Australian LNG project operator Santos is on its way to making Chief Executive Keven Gallagher one of the highest paid executives in the country as he develops projects in five key natural gas basins in Australia.

Jan 29 (LNGJ) - Woodside Petroleum, the Western Australia LNG plant operator, said one of its subsidiaries, Woodside Burrup Pty Ltd, and the North West Shelf (NWS) LNG shareholders have finalised arrangements with the State Government enabling the supply of Pluto LNG feed-gas, via an interconnector pipeline, for processing at the NWS Karratha Gas Plant (KGP).

   “Connecting the Pluto and NWS facilities accelerates the production of offshore Pluto gas and provides flexible access to emerging LNG processing capacity. The Pluto-KGP interconnector is the first step in realising our vision for a regional LNG hub on the Burrup Peninsula,” said Woodside Chief Executive Peter Coleman.

Woodside Petroleum, the Western Australian operator of two LNG export plants, posted a plunge of more than 33 percent in 2020 LNG sales revenues after the roller-coaster price movements in the year of Covid-19.

Australian LNG operator Woodside Petroleum has completed its acquisition of a stake valued at more than US$600 million from UK-listed Cairn Energy, giving it overall control of the oil development in Senegal offshore West Africa, which has emerged as a major Atlantic Margin oil and gas province amid major discoveries.

Western Australian LNG operator Woodside again demonstrated its public transparency by declaring that it paid A$583 million (US$435M) in corporate taxes in Australia for the previous fiscal year and a total of A$10 billion in taxes and royalties over 10 years.

One of the best-known and among the longest-serving senior executives in the LNG sector, the Chief Executive of Woodside Petroleum, Peter Coleman, has announced his intention to retire in 2021.

Woodside Chairman Richard Goyder said he had been advised by CEO Coleman that he would be retiring from his post after 10 years in the role in the second half of next year.

Woodside said it had commenced an internal and external search for the company’s next CEO.

The Perth, Western Australia-based company is the operator of the North West Shelf plant, the Pluto LNG facility and a shareholder in the Wheatstone venture run by Chevron Corp.

At the same time, it is in the midst of two main projects that will affect profits in the years to come.

These are the Scarborough gas field development off Western Australia with feed-gas for a second processing Train at the Pluto plant and part of the company’s Gas Hub in the Burrup Peninsula.

Woodside is also active in the oil sector and recently agreed to increase its stake in the Sangomar oil field development offshore Senegal.

Coleman said that he believed that this was the right time to retire and believed Woodside was well positioned for the future.

“In this challenging year, Woodside has taken the prudent decisions needed to maintain safe and reliable operations and protect our growth plans, while setting up our company for the next phase,” explained the CEO.

“I am extremely proud of how our Woodside team has managed the uncertainty and is on track to deliver record production and exceptional safety performance,” he stated.

Company Chairman Goyder praised Coleman’s leadership and his overall contribution.

“Peter has been an outstanding CEO and his focus on safety, base business and operational excellence have created a resilient and future-focused organisation,” said Goyder.

“His commitment to prudent capital management and maintaining a strong balance sheet and liquidity has complemented his track-record for operational excellence,” he added.

“Peter is a corporate leader in safety and environmental performance, inclusion and diversity, gender equality, and Indigenous respect and awareness and has entrenched these values in Woodside’s culture,” stated Goyder.

Coleman said he was proud of what the Woodside team had delivered in the past 10 years.

“Retiring in 2021 ensures continuity to support the Scarborough investment decision, which will transform Woodside, while ensuring our international projects in Senegal and Myanmar maintain their positive momentum,” he explained.

“We value our LNG buyers, joint venture partners and contractors who will continue to be critical to Woodside’s ongoing success,” he added.

“I will miss being part of the Woodside team. The company has been reset with a strong platform for the future, with the next stage of our journey ready for a new CEO to take the required ownership of Woodside’s significant growth projects,” Coleman concluded.

The latest LNG market report from Australia said LNG supplies to China are still strong even amid trade tensions that led liquefaction plant operator Woodside Petroleum to suspend talks with the Chinese over taking a stake in the Scarborough gas field offshore Western Australia.