How are Woodside (ASX:WDS) shares reacting to Q2 revenue boost?

Highlights

• Woodside Energy’s revenue more than doubled in Q2.

• Strong numbers for the second quarter also encouraged WDS to forecast higher annual production.

• Shares of WDS fell over 2% in opening trade.

Shares of Woodside Energy Group Ltd (ASX:WDS) fell over 2% in opening trade on Thursday after the newly merged unit more than doubled its quarterly revenue (from Q2 2021) on strong energy prices and boost from BHP Group’s newly acquired petroleum assets. By 10:12 AM (AEST), shares of Woodside Energy were trading at AU$31.96, down 1.87%.

Australia’s largest independent gas producer has also forecast higher annual production, thanks to its robust second quarter report for period ending 30 June 2022.

Woodside Energy reported a 60% rise in second quarter production to 33.8 million barrels of oil equivalent compared to the first quarter of 2022. It delivered an average realised price of US$95 per barrel of oil equivalent and revenue rise of 44% to US$3,438 million compared to Q1 2022.

The Perth-based gas producer Woodside Energy had completed its merger with BHP’s (ASX:BHP)  petroleum business on 1 June 2022.

Woodside Energy ends Sangomar selldown talks

Woodside Energy also said that it was ending plans to sell its stake in the Sangomar oil project in Senegal. The ASX-listed firm holds 82% of the Sangomar exploitation area.

Total production forecast

Woodside expects total production in the range of 145-153 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe) in FY2022. The company had earlier forecast its total production in the range of 92 to 98 MMboe.

The company also raised its forecast for annual capital expenditure to a range of US$4.30 billion to US$4.80 billion compared to its earlier forecast in the range of AU$3.8 billion to AU$4.2 billion.

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What did the company say?

Woodside Energy CEO Meg O’Neill was upbeat about the latest update. “The completion on 1 June of our merger with BHP’s petroleum business was the highlight of the period, transforming Woodside into a top 10 global independent energy producer by hydrocarbon production and making us the largest energy company listed on the Australian Securities Exchange,” said Meg O’Neill.

“Woodside received a net cash payment from BHP Group of approximately $1.1 billion, which included the cash remaining in the bank accounts of BHP Petroleum immediately prior to completion. Significant progress was made on our key projects during the quarter. All major equipment items for Scarborough have been procured and construction has begun at the Pluto Train 2 site,” added Meg O’Neill.