Woodside 4Q23 Results | Climate Transition Analysis
Woodside released its 4Q23/FY23 report today. With nothing new on its transition, it appears that investors will be waiting until February to hear the details of its new transition strategy that will be put to a shareholder vote in April.
So far, from what we’ve seen in 2023, Woodside is still committed to being a pure-play oil and gas company. If this is the role it wants to have, there is a lot of work that needs to be done to remain competitive on costs and emissions in a future of declining fossil fuel demand.
Key takeaways from Woodside’s FY23 report:
During the year, oil and gas production increased 19% on FY22 (6% ex BHP assets), with capex up 39% ($5.7bn). 70% of capex has been allocated to three major upstream oil and gas developments.
It is continuing merger discussions with Santos, another pure oil and gas player that carries a more carbon-intensive portfolio.
It will need to increase its investment in its New Energy business (hydrogen, ammonia, and CCS) to more than 6x from FY22 ($100m) to deliver on its $5bn target by 2030.
The company took a positive step to refresh its Board with the appointment of a non-executive director Ashok Belani who has experience in decarbonising upstream operations.
With little progress on its New Energy business, if Woodside is serious about being competitive in a low-carbon future it needs to demonstrate it can deliver low-cost and low-emission oil and gas. Investors should ask Woodside to deliver more on Scope 1 and 2 emission reduction outside of offsets and go beyond feasibility studies and MOUs to quantify how $5bn investment in New Energy will deliver real emission reduction before 2030.
