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Woodside constantly 'running ruler' over deals after profit beats forecast

Australia's top oil and gas explorer Woodside Energy published a 37% drop in yearly underlying earnings on Tuesday, as controlled oil and gas costs balance out greater sales and production.

Less than three weeks considering that Woodside ended merger talks with smaller sized regional player Santos in the middle of major differences on price, CEO Meg O'Neill said the business continued to evaluate possible deal targets.

Financiers have actually been viewing carefully for indications of future deal-making and O'Neill fielded duplicated questions about acquisition strategies from experts on a full-year outcomes contact Tuesday.

We're constantly searching for ways to add worth to our shareholders, she stated in a later interview with . We're pretty routinely running the ruler over ideas but we're. extremely delighted with the portfolio we have today.

Running the ruler over ideas and bringing a deal to. fulfillment are 2 rather various things, she stated.

O'Neill singled out the North American offshore sector. as a particular location of interest in addition to liquefied natural. gas (LNG) projects.

Inquired about a current Bloomberg interview in Saudi Arabia. which raised the possibility of deals in the Middle East,. O'Neill said her main reason for travelling to the country was a. conference.

Woodside reported underlying net revenue after tax (NPAT). of $3.32 billion for 2023, down 37% from $5.23 billion in 2022. However, that beat an LSEG estimate of $3.03 billion.

Oil and natural gas costs softened in 2023, as slowing. Global development and China's slowdown weighed on need. Woodside's revenues beat market projections thanks to reduce costs.

Shares of the business increased 0.9% to A$ 30.28 at 12:45. p.m.( 0145 GMT), while the benchmark index was down. 0.15%.

Last week, the company revealed the sale of a 15.1%. non-operating stake in its Scarborough gas project to Japan's. JERA for about $1.4 billion - its second stake sale to a. Japanese LNG purchaser in 6 months.

O'Neill stated she was happy with Woodside's present 74.9%. equity stake in the job and there were no plans for even more. sales.

Woodside maintained its target to export a very first LNG. cargo in 2026 for the task off the Western Australian coast.

Woodside got $68.6 per barrel of oil equivalent (boe),. compared to $98.4 per boe a year earlier, while yearly sales. volume rose 19% to 201.5 million barrels of oil equivalent. ( mmboe).

Woodside maintained its financial 2024 production assistance of. in between 185 and 195 mmboe and reaffirmed its capital expenditure. projection of between $5.0 billion and $5.5 billion.

(source: Reuters)