Australian petroleum and gas production company Woodside Energy [ASX:WDS] has been moving down slightly in shares this afternoon, the company having released lacklustre financials in its report for Q4 2022.
While WDS reported MMboe (Million Barrels of Oil Equivalent) reached record quarterly production by 0.7%, sales volume dropped 8.5% and revenue was down 12%.
The company attributed the lowering sales and revenue to less third-party trades and pricing shifts.
WDS shares were moving down nearly 1% by the early afternoon, however, it was not so bad in longer-term metrics — WDS has still managed to move up 5.5% in the year so far.
Compared to the ASX 200 benchmark, Woodside is still up 48%.
Source: TradingView
Q4 production, sales, and revenue at Woodside
Oil and gas exploration and production company Woodside presented its fourth quarter report ended 31 December 2022, with focus on achieving rising oil and gas production in the quarter, contributing to a ‘record’ full year.
For the full year, a record of 157.7 MMboe was highlighted, a volume which WDS pointed out outperformed the production guidance of 153–157 MMboe, and strong performance in Q4.
Unfortunately, the excitement finished there, as the company’s sales and revenue report was less celebratory, sales volume of 52.2 MMboe, was down 8.5% from Q3 2022 attributed to a reduction in third-party trades.
Revenue of $5,160 million was down 12.0% from Q3 2022 ($102/boe), impacted by reduced trading activity and lower realised prices.
WDS said that it achieved a portfolio average realised price per barrel of oil equivalent at $98 per barrel.
Woodside’s CEO Meg O’Neill stated:
‘The result lifted output for calendar 2022 to 157.7 million boe, surpassing guidance and marking the highest annual production in Woodside’s history.
‘Consistent strong operational performance and favourable operating conditions across the combined portfolio was a key driver in achieving record quarterly and full-year production.’
Source: WDS
Plans, projects, and guidance
Along with production and sales reports, the energy giant also provided an update on its major projects. The Scarborough and Pluto Train 2 projects are both now 25% complete, while the development drilling program on Sangomar has now finished seven of 23 wells.
WDS reports that the combined projects are now one quarter of the way to completion and are on track for targeted first LNG cargo in 2026, bringing essential volumes into a market that is demanding more LNG.
‘Progress was also made at the proposed Trion project in Mexico, where we are aiming to be ready for a final investment decision (FID) in 2023,” said O’Neill.
‘During the quarter competitive tenders were issued for the drilling rig, subsea equipment, and installation scopes for subsea, the floating production unit, and the floating storage and offloading vessel.
‘In our new energy portfolio, front-end engineering design (FEED) has now been completed at H2OK and contracts were awarded for key equipment, putting us on target to be ready for FID in 2023.’
Woodside’s production guidance for full-year 2023 remains 180–190 million barrels of oil equivalent.
The company will provide full-year line-item guidance in early February ahead of the 2022 full-year results.
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For The Daily Reckoning Australia
