Woodside looks like an energy company where the projects do the talking — solid operations running in the background, a clear pipeline of growth ahead, and enough financial room to keep things moving.
Woodside Energy Group (ASX: WDS)
Woodside Energy Group (ASX: WDS) The March quarter update painted a picture of a business that kept humming along operationally while pushing its big development projects further down the track. Quarterly output landed at 45.2 MMboe, the average price realised was $63 per boe, and the company made no changes at all to its full year guidance across production, capital spending or cost targets.
How the Operations Held Up
The underlying asset base had a good quarter. Sangomar, Shenzi, North West Shelf and Pluto LNG all ran at reliability levels of 99% or higher. Pluto LNG came in at a perfect 100% for the third quarter running and North West Shelf was close behind at 99.7%, which says a lot given the rough weather Western Australia dealt with during the period.
Production itself came in 8% lower than the December quarter, though that was purely down to seasonal weather rather than anything going wrong with the business. Sales volumes still managed to grow 3% compared to the same time last year, reaching 51.7 MMboe. The stronger realised price of $63 per boe was helped by better conditions on the spot market and Woodside has flagged that more of that pricing benefit should come through later in the year once the lag in LNG contract pricing catches up.
Where the Projects Stand
The development pipeline is really where the longer term value sits and the quarter brought some decent progress across the board. The Scarborough Energy Project hit 96% completion and stayed within budget, with first LNG cargo still on track for the final quarter of 2026 following the successful hook up of the floating production unit and ongoing work commissioning the topsides.
Trion moved to 56% complete and also held its budget, with first oil still pointed at 2028. Louisiana LNG reached 24% through its foundation phase, with Train 1 sitting at 31% complete, and that project remains on course to deliver first LNG in 2029.
What Else Happened Across the Portfolio
Beaumont New Ammonia crossed a real commercial line in the quarter with the first cargo shipped in February and operational control passing to Woodside in March. The timeline for lower carbon ammonia production has shifted out to 2027 because of hold ups at third party industrial gas suppliers, which is outside Woodside's direct control.
On the selling side, the company said it saw no disruptions connected to tensions in the Middle East and continued to see healthy demand for LNG from spot buyers. About 51% of LNG sold during the quarter was priced against gas hub benchmarks and Woodside kept its exposure to spot shipping rates in check through its term freight contracts.
Where the Finances Sit
Revenue from operations came in at $3.261 billion for the quarter, which was 7% ahead of the December quarter. Capital spending and acquisitions together totalled $1.323 billion over the same period. The full year guidance remained exactly as it was, covering production of 172 to 186 MMboe, capital expenditure of $4.0 to $4.5 billion and production costs of $1.5 to $1.8 billion.
Available liquidity was around $8.3 billion and net debt including lease obligations sat at roughly $9.3 billion, a manageable position given the volume of activity the company is running at present.
Source: ( Company Analysis )
