Australian independent Woodside Energy has revised its 2025 oil and gas production guidance and cut its estimated unit cost of production in the firm's half-year results.
Guidance has narrowed from 186-196mn bl of oil equivalent (boe) to 188-195mn boe, while costs of production will fall to $8-$8.5/bl, from $8.5-$9.2/bl, the Perth-headquartered company said.
Woodside produced 99.2mn boe (548,000 boe/d) for the half year ended 30 June 2025, up from 491,000 boe/d in January-June 2024, mainly due to Sangomar oil production offshore Senegal.
No update was provided on selling down Woodside's stake in the 16.5mn t/yr Louisiana LNG export facility in the US, after part owner Stonepeak this year agreed to take a 40pc share in the project's infrastructure holding.
Woodside aims to keep about 8mn t/yr in its portfolio, on-selling a "good portion of that," chief executive Meg O'Neill said on 19 August. LNG offtake agreements were inked with Hong Kong-listed city gas firm China Resources Gas and German utility Uniper during the half.
The 100,000 b/d Trion deepwater oil project offshore Mexico is 35pc complete, Woodside said, while its 8mn t/yr Scarbrough LNG development has reached 86pc completion ahead of its commissioning in the second half of 2026.
Expected issues in decommissioning the Minerva, Stybarrow and Griffin fields offshore Victoria and WA states have driven Woodside to record a $445mn pre-tax restoration expense in the half year, as flagged in its April-June results. Challenges with the process have been recognised due to the poor condition of the closed production assets, the firm said.
A final decision on the 40-year life extension for the 14.3mn t/yr North West Shelf LNG project remains uncertain, with the company continuing to negotiate an outcome on environmental permitting with Canberra for the plant to run until 2070.
Woodside posted an underlying net profit of $1.25bn, down by 24pc from $1.63bn in the same period a year earlier, due to lower prices and a rise in depreciation and restoration expenses.
Capital expenditure is forecast at $4-4.5bn, down from a previous $4.5-5bn, excluding spending on Louisiana LNG.
| Woodside Energy financial results | $mn | ||
| 1H 2025 | 1H 2024 | % ± | |
| Total operating revenue | 6,590 | 5,988 | 10 |
| LNG revenue | 2,939 | 3,007 | -2 |
| Net profit | 1,247 | 1,632 | -24 |
| Investment expenditure | 2,558 | 2,365 | 8 |
| Unit production cost ($/boe) | 7.7 | 8.3 | -7 |
| Source: Woodside | |||
