Booming oil and gas prices power Woodside Energy to record revenues
Woodside Energy Group (Woodside) is revelling in record revenues, powered by firmer energy prices and its merger with BHP Group’s petroleum assets.
It has now boosted its annual production outlook, after more than quadrupling its revenue year-on-year in the three months of trading up to September.
Woodside revealed that its revenue had increased to $5.9bn in the third quarter.
This was up 70 per cent from the previous quarter and was well above $1.6bn that Australian company reported in the same quarter last year.
The company established itself as a top-10 global independent oil and gas producer after its merger with BHP’s petroleum arm was finalised this year.
This has helped to double its output, after the company reported that it produced 51.2m barrels of oil equivalent per day (mmboe) during the quarter, the first three month window of trading since its merger with BHP’s petroleum arm.
This compares with just 22.2 mmboe a year earlier, less than half today’s announced total.
It now expects to produce between 153m barrels of oil equivalent per day (mmboe) and 157 mmboe over 2022.
This is up from its July forecast of 145 mmboe to 153 mmboe.
Woodside boosted by BHP petroleum merger
Following the headline announcements, shares in Woodside were up 5.7 per cent on the London Stock Exchange at close of play today.
Fossil fuel firms have recorded a streak of record profits this year courtesy of soaring energy prices driven by supply shortage fears following.
In particular, Woodside benefitted from reduced energy supplies following the Ukraine war, which has pushed liquefied natural gas prices to all-time highs and forced buyers to scramble for alternate supplies from countries like Australia.
The company was able to charge an average price of about $102 per barrel of oil equivalent (boe) in the September quarter, which was nearly twice the $59 per boe last year.
Woodside has also agreed a deal with Germany’s Uniper to supply gas from 2023.
This follows its successful London listing earlier this summer, with the firm since developing its market cap to over £30bn.
Woodside also revealed its chief project – the $5.7 billion Scarborough gas field— which holds about 11 trillion cubic feet of gas and the Pluto Train 2, was 21 per cent complete.
The first LNG cargo is targeted for 2026.