LNG

Woodside Energy, the key supplier of LNG to North Asia from two operated plants in Western Australia, has shrugged off the rejection at its annual meeting in Perth of a non-binding vote on its climate change policies as several politically-motivated pension funds and advocacy groups voted against it as not going far enough.

Woodside Energy, the operator of the North West Shelf and Pluto LNG plants in Western Australia, is having to undertake remedial work and a cost review of its biggest overseas project, the Sangomar Field Development offshore Senegal in West Africa, and has pushed back the start-up because of work to be undertaken in Singapore on the production facility.

Woodside Energy, the operator of the Northwest Shelf LNG plant and the Pluto LNG facility in Western Australia, posted soaring annual net profits because of higher prices and the benefits of the merger with commodities giant BHP’s petroleum business.

Western Australian LNG operator Woodside Energy confirmed a first-half net profit after tax (NPAT) of US$1.64 billion with operating revenues surging 132 percent to US$5.81Bln after a more than doubling of commodity prices.

Western Australian LNG plant operator Woodside has completed the acquisition of the entire participating interest of Australian energy company FAR Ltd in the Rufisque Offshore, Sangomar Offshore and Sangomar Deep Offshore (RSSD) joint venture in Senegal.

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 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 liquefied natural gas plant operator Woodside Petroleum posted overall second-quarter sales revenues of US$768 million, a drop of 28.2 percent as its realised LNG price dropped by US$3.10 per million British thermal units from the first quarter.

Woodside Petroleum, the operator of two LNG export plants in Western Australia, posted a 12 percent first-quarter increase in oil and gas production, though prices were down 20 percent along with revenues from the same three months a year ago.

Woodside, one of the biggest regional suppliers of LNG cargoes to North Asia, reported sales revenue of US$1.08 billion for the quarter ended March 31, down from US$1.36Bln a year earlier.

Production came to 24.2 million barrels of oil equivalent, up from 2.17M boe as the company mitigated the impacts of Tropical Cyclone Damien during the quarter.

Total LNG output for Woodside rose 4.5 percent to 18.31M boe from 17.53 boe in the prior-year quarter.

At the same time, Woodside like all other companies in the industry implemented responses to the combined effects of the Covid-19 outbreak and lower commodity prices.

Woodside’s first-quarter one-sixth share of LNG sales at the North West Shelf plant in Western Australia came to 606,577 tonnes, down from 652,246 tonnes in the same quarter of 2019.

The Perth-based company’s sales from its stake in the Chevron-operated the Wheatstone plant in the Pilbara region of Western Australia rose to 236,185 tonnes from 175,932 tonnes in the 2019 quarter.

At Woodside’s single-Train Pluto LNG plant sales amounted to 1.163 million tonnes in the quarter, up on last year’s 1.107MT.

“Tropical Cyclone Damien, which crossed the Western Australian coast in February, was the most significant weather event ever to pass over Woodside’s production facilities on the Burrup Peninsula,” stated Woodside Chief Executive Peter Coleman in the company's first-quarter report.

“Despite the severity of the storm, the team put in an outstanding effort to ensure the safety of our people and our assets and restore normal operations in a matter of days,” added the CEO.

“Nevertheless, revenue for the quarter was impacted by reduced trading activity and lower realised prices due to Covid-19 and an unprecedented combination of oversupply and short-term demand destruction,” stated Coleman.

“Of course, most of the quarter was overshadowed by the growing threat of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has required us to take swift and decisive action to protect our workforce, communities and operations,” he said.

Coleman noted that the company had already made “tough but prudent decisions” to ensure the financial integrity of the business with spending cuts in 2020 of 50 percent.

“A targeted final investment decision on our Scarborough and Pluto Train 2 developments has been deferred from this year to next,” said Coleman.

“We made solid progress on our near-term growth projects during the quarter, taking FID on Sangomar Field Development Phase 1 in Senegal and the North West Shelf’s Greater Western Flank Phase 3, as well as making significant execution progress on Pyxis Hub and Julimar-Brunello Phase 2,” he added.

Australian LNG plant operator Woodside Petroleum said the Greater Enfield offshore venture underpinned a solid result in a quarter in which significant progress was achieved on the Perth-based company’s growth projects.