Why Is Woodside Energy Stock Trading Higher Tuesday?

Woodside Energy Group Ltd WDS shares are trading higher premarket Tuesday after the company reported its first-half FY24 results.

Operating revenue fell 19% Y/Y to $5.99 billion. The company delivered half-year production of 89.3 MMboe (-2% Y/Y), with gas production of 60.9 MMboe (-4% Y/Y) and liquids production of 28.4 MMboe (+2% Y/Y).

EBITDA excluding impairment declined 11% Y/Y to $4.37 billion in the first half of FY24.

Underlying net profit after tax declined 14% Y/Y to $1.63 billion, surpassing the Visible Alpha consensus estimate of $1.38 billion (as per Reuters).

Operating cash flow decreased 19% Y/Y to $2.39 billion, and free cash flow was $740 million in H1 FY24.

Woodside increased its standby debt facilities from $6.05 billion to $6.50 billion. Net debt at the end of the period rose 67% Y/Y to $5.39 billion.

Dividend: The directors declared a fully franked interim dividend of $0.69 per share (-14% Y/Y), reflecting about an 80% payout ratio of underlying NPAT.

CEO Meg O’Neill said, “We also made good progress on the Scarborough Energy Project in Western Australia, which is more than two-thirds complete and on track for first LNG cargo in 2026. Work on the Scarborough floating production unit passed a major milestone with structural completion of the topsides.”

Read: Tellurian Shares Soar on $1.2B Woodside Deal: Details

“We completed the sale of a 10% non-operating participating interest in the Scarborough Joint Venture (SJV) to LJ Scarborough Pty Ltd (LNG Japan) for $910 million and executed a binding sale and purchase agreement for the sale of a further 15.1% non-operating participating interest in the SJV to JERA.”

This month, the company disclosed a deal to acquire 100% of OCI Global's equity interests in the Clean Ammonia project under construction in Beaumont, Texas, for $2.35 billion on a cash-free and debt-free basis.

Investors can gain access to the stock via First Trust Natural Gas ETF FCG.

Price Action: WDS shares are up 2.57% at $18.39 premarket at the last check Tuesday.

Read Next:

• Woodside’s Scarborough Project Moves Forward After Legal Win: Details

Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.