Woodside Energy Group Ltd. reported Friday $4.33 billion in revenue for January to March, an 81 percent surge from the corresponding 2022 quarter that it attributed to its merger with the petroleum business of BHP Group Ltd. last year.
However, the revenue shrank 16 percent against the previous quarter as sales and prices fell.
Woodside, a major in Australia’s energy industry, produced 46.8 million barrels of oil equivalent (MMboe) in the first quarter of 2023, down nine percent compared to the October-December 2022 quarter but up 122 percent year on year. LNG output stood at 24.283 MMboe, while petroleum and condensate totaled 12.328 MMboe with a maiden contribution of 939,000 boe from the Mad Dog oil field in the USA Gulf of Mexico.
The weaker production was due to a planned turnaround of the Ngujima-Yin floating production storage and offloading facility offshore Western Australia, maintenance activities and lower domestic demand from the Australian east coast for Bass Strait gas, the company said in a filing with the Australian Securities Exchange.
But it said, “Production was more than double the corresponding quarter last year, driven by the expanded operations portfolio post-merger”.
Woodside and Melbourne city-based BHP completed the merger of their oil and gas portfolio June 2022. The former acquired BHP Petroleum International Pty. Ltd., which had a total output of 53 MMboe in the half year to December 2021. BHP Petroleum held an estimated 309.9 million barrels of proved oil and condensate reserves and 3.5522 trillion cubic feet of proved gas reserves as of yearend 2021, according to a merger proposal on the Securities and Exchange Commission of the USA, where Woodside is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
Woodside sold 50.4 MMboe in the first three months of 2023, down four percent from the preceding quarter but up 112 percent against last year’s opening quarter.
Its liquefied natural gas (LNG) sold at $16.7 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) in realized price, down from $20.3 per MMBtu quarter on quarter. Woodside’s oil and condensate sold at $76 a barrel, from $82 in the last quarter of 2022.
For 2023 as a whole Woodside has maintained its projected production of 180-190 MMboe.
“We are making good progress on all major growth projects in Australia and globally”, chief executive Meg O’Neill said in the earnings report.
“The Scarborough and Pluto Train 2 projects [in Western Australia] are now 30% complete, with construction of key offshore and onshore infrastructure ramping up. First concrete has now been poured on the Pluto Train 2 site”.
“The Sangomar development drilling program [in Senegal] is nearing its half-way point, with ten of 23 wells completed”, she added. “Installation and testing of the rigid flowlines, which total 101km in length, were successfully and safely completed. This is a key milestone on the path to targeted first oil later this year.
“At the Trion project in the GoM [Gulf of Mexico], we have received tenders for key equipment and activities including the floating production unit, long-lead rotating equipment, subsea equipment, drilling rig and installation scopes as we target FID [final investment decision] readiness this year”.
Meanwhile regulatory approval is pending for Woodside’s 12 winning bids in the Gulf of Mexico auction for drilling rights by the USA last month. The company has placed $6,255,474 in total, according to the results of Lease Sale 259 published by the USA Ocean Energy Management Bureau on March 29.
Woodside also said it has received Egyptian regulatory approval for a buy of 27 percent interest in the Herodotus Basin.
The company spent $1.316 billion in capital expenditure for the 2023 first quarter.
To contact the author, email jov.onsat@rigzone.com
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