Woodside reports record production in the third quarter and restricts forecast for 2024

Woodside Energy reported record production of 577,000 boe/d in the third quarter of 2024, up 18% quarter-on-quarter from 488,000 boe/d in the second quarter of 2024. The company’s production was largely supported by increased production in Senegal. Woodside also narrowed its 2024 production forecast.

Compared to the same quarter last year, Woodside reported average production of 520,000 boe/d.

The increase in production in the third quarter of 2024 was driven primarily by the Sangomar project offshore Senegal and “increased the uptime of all operating assets, including 99.9% LNG reliability at Pluto.” [LNG] and increased seasonal domestic gas demand,” the Australian company said in its Oct. 16 earnings report.

“The strong operational performance was underpinned by the accelerated ramp-up at Sangomar and exceptional performance at Pluto LNG and North West Shelf (NWS), which recorded 99.9% and 99.2% reliability respectively,” said Meg O’Neill, CEO of Woodside, in the press release.

Looking ahead, Woodside has narrowed its 2024 production forecast and, most importantly, raised the lower end of its production range. The company now expects production at the midpoint of guidance to average 526 boe/d in 2024, a slight increase of 1% from the previous midpoint forecast of 520.5 boe/d.

Financially, Woodside reported revenue of approximately $3.7 billion during the quarter, up 21% quarter-on-quarter and up 13% compared to the same quarter in 2023. The higher revenue was primarily due to Sangomar- Freight sales and higher average LNG prices, the company said. Additionally, Woodside said it benefited from increased gas hub prices by selling 39% of its produced LNG cargoes in the third quarter of 2024 at prices linked to gas hub indices.

Perth-based Woodside, which recently opened a U.S. LNG export facility in Louisiana through its acquisition of Tellurian Inc., also has assets in Australia, Mexico, Senegal and Trinidad and Tobago. Also in the USA and in the new energy sector, Woodside completed the acquisition of OCI Clean Ammonia Holding BV, which operates a project in Texas, in September.

“These acquisitions expand our diverse, geographically advantageous portfolio and position Woodside to execute on our strategy to successfully navigate the energy transition and deliver long-term value to shareholders,” said O’Neill.

Growth projects in planning

Aside from the new opportunities presented by the acquisition of Tellurian – a 27.6 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) project has been renamed Woodside Louisiana LNG – and OCI, Woodside’s near-term business focus is on three growth opportunities.

The projects include the Sangomar deep-sea project in Senegal, which is already online, as well as a massive liquefaction project at Pluto Train 2 in Australia and another deep-sea project, Trion, in Mexico.

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Sangomar:

Off the coast of Senegal, the Sangomar Field Development Phase 1 marks that African country’s first offshore oil development. Work to develop the Sangomar field began in early 2020. The field (formerly the SNE field) is located 100 km south of Dakar and contains both oil and gas.

Woodside drilled and completed the final Phase 1 well in the third quarter of 2024, the company said in the release.

“At Sangomar, the 24-well drilling program has been completed and the project has reached a rated capacity of 100,000 barrels per day. Commissioning activities continue to progress as planned and commissioning of the gas and water injection systems is underway,” O’Neill said.

Woodside continues to receive strong interest in Sangomar crude oil from buyers in Europe and Asia.

Scarborough:

Woodside’s Pluto LNG project consists of a gas processing plant in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The project consists of two phases: Pluto Train 1 and Pluto Train 2. Pluto 1 sources feed gas from the Pluto and Xena offshore gas fields. Gas from the Scarborough field, which Woodside operates, will provide feed gas to Pluto 2.

According to O’Neill, Scarborough will ultimately produce about 8 million tonnes per year, of which 5 million tonnes of Scarborough gas will be processed via Pluto Train 2 and up to 3 million tonnes per year will be processed via the existing Pluto Train 1.

“Scarborough… is now 73% complete and remains on schedule for the first LNG cargo in 2026,” O’Neill said. “The installation of the Scarborough offshore gas pipeline was completed in early October.”

Approximately 41 of 51 Pluto Train 2 modules were delivered to the site, with 39 modules placed in position at the end of the quarter, Woodside said.

Fabrication of the hull and topsides of the floating production unit (FPU) continues to progress, with installation of plumbing, electrical and instrumentation packages on the topsides continuing. The hull was placed in a second drydock in preparation for FPU integration activities in 2025, Woodside said.

The drilling program continued with serial drilling of development wells. The first steel has been cut at the module site of the Pluto Train 1 modification project and site preparation work has begun at the Pluto LNG facility.

The first Pluto Train 2 LNG freight transport will also take place in Woodside in 2026.

Trion:

Trion, Woodside’s project offshore Mexico, has large, high-quality conventional resources. The Trion project was 15% complete at the end of the third quarter of 2024. The first oil is scheduled to come online in 2028.

Trion’s production is handled by an FPU with a rated capacity of 100,000 barrels per day. If Woodside is producing without water breakthrough early in the field’s life, the FPU can process up to 120,000 barrels per day, according to O’Neill.

Woodside has awarded contracts for bare-boat charter for floating vessels, storage and offloading vessels, aviation services and fiber optic mainline installation, the company said in the release. Additionally, procurement activities continue to progress, including the delivery of long lead time items to subsea equipment manufacturers.

Woodside also announced that the FPU hull model review has been completed and FPU pre-construction work has begun.

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