Woodside’s Q1 2011 production drops by 19%. Woodside plans aggressive appraisal and development activities to achieve 2011 production target!!

Woodside reported production of 15.6 mboe for March 2011 quarter end, down 19% compared to the corresponding quarter due to tropical cyclone activity in the North West, the sale of Woodside’s interest in the Otway Gas Project in March 2010, planned outages at Vincent and NWS Oil and oil-field natural decline. However, this production fall was partially offset from increased volumes from the company’s Stybarrow fields. The company also announced it had abandoned plans to sell its Laminaria-Corallina assets, Darwin, after testing the market for a potential buyer.

The company projected its 2011 production between 63 to 66 MMboe – excluding its Pluto field, from which Woodside’s stake in production would be between 5 and 9 MMboe, the company said. Woodside has planned development, exploration and appraisal activities in Australia.

Development Activities:

Pluto LNG Foundation Project has transitioned to an operating site with the introduction of natural gas into the plant in early March 2011. Mitigation plans are in place to recover four weeks of weather related delays and retain our start-up target of August, with LNG one month later.

Pluto Expansion – progress continues with a gas discovery at Martin-1 in permit WA-404-P.

Browse LNG Project – Woodside’s Board approved Browse moving into FEED during the quarter, and has appointed FEED contractors who have now been mobilized.

Sunrise LNG – In accordance with international treaties, Woodside is continuing to advocate for the

approval of the proposed Floating LNG development with Australian and Timor-Leste governments.

NWS North Rankin Redevelopment Project – project remains on schedule and budget for 2013 completion.

NWS Oil Redevelopment Project – overall works are nearing completion with production shut-in on 7

March and resumption of production expected in late Q2 2011.

Exploration and Appraisal activities:

Source: Derrick Petroleum Planned Exploration Wells Database

Woodside has planned exploration and appraisal activities in Australia, Asia and America.
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BHP expected to put in $49 bn bid for Woodside!!!

BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP) will make a A$46 billion ($48.5 billion) bid for the Australian oil and gas producer. BHP is in talks to buy Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA)’s 24 percent stake in Woodside and make a full takeover offer. BHP would swap some of Woodside’s assets, including the Sunrise natural-gas field, for Shell’s holding.

Woodside shares have risen from this year’s March 15 low to A$47.26 on April 8 on speculation of a bid from BHP and an increase in gas demand following Japan’s nuclear crisis. BHP and Tokyo-based Mitsui & Co. and Mitsubishi Corp. may be potential buyers of Shell’s stake or of the entire company, Credit Suisse Group AG said in an April 7 report.

“If BHP buy the whole of Woodside and bolt it together with their own assets, I think they could look to make $3 or $4 billion worth of synergies out of this deal.

Woodside to get 23% premium

A $48.6 billion bid would represent a 23 percent premium to Woodside’s value, in line with the average premium paid for oil and gas assets worldwide in deals announced in the past 12 months.

While talks on Woodside have intensified in recent weeks, BHP is concerned that securing the support of Woodside’s management may be too costly.

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Weighing the Acquisition

More than half of BHP’s assets are in Australia, where the resources industry is undergoing its biggest boom in a century as Chinese demand for coal and iron ore climbs. Company announced in February it is still considering acquisitions after completed takeovers in the mining industry reached $80.7 billion in 2010. Also BHP is left with $16 billion of cash due to surging prices for iron ore, copper and oil.

“Asian LNG prices are the highest in the world, and Australia, being in relatively close proximity to Asia, acquisition would put BHP in strong position to sell to that market.

Woodside acquisitions and divestitures 

Year	Heading	Deal Value ($MM)
2009	Woodside divests 51.55% interest in Otway project for $641m	641.31
2007	Petronas acquires Mauritanian assets of Woodside Petroleum for $418m	418
2008	Woodside Petroleum acquires Shell's North West Shelf, Australia, oil assets for $399m	398.5
2008	Woodside Petroleum wins bids for 10 GoM blocks	89.85
2010	Woodside Petroleum divests Sierra Leone and Liberia assets to Anadarko	65
2007	Apache acquires Woodside's interests in certain Australian properties for $65m	65
2008	Origin Energy acquires remaining 62.5% interest in offshore Australia permit from Woodside Petroleum for $12m	12.2
2007	Karoon Gas acquires Woodside's interest in Australian permit for $0.9m	0.9
2010	Woodside acquires remaining 50% interest in offshore Australian permit from Hess
2010	Woodside acquires 65% interest in offshore Western Australia permit
2010	PTTEP acquires 20% interest in three permits offshore Western Australia
2009	Korea Gas to acquire interest in three offshore Australian permits from Woodside
2008	Woodside Petroleum awarded three exploration permits offshore Australia
2008	Anadarko acquires 50% interest in two blocks offshore Sierra Leone from RepsolYPF and Woodside
2008	Anadarko acquires 65% interest in three blocks offshore Liberia
2008	Woodside Petroleum and Reliance farm into Pluspetrol's exploration block in Peru
2008	Woodside farms out interest in three Australian exploration permits to Mitsui and Toyota Tsusho Corp
2008	Toyota Tsusho Corp acquires 7.5% interest in offshore Australian permit from Woodside and BHP Billiton
2007	Tokyo Gas and Kansai Electric acquire 5% stake each in Australian permit from Woodside
2007	Tokyo Gas Co to acquire 5% interest in Australia exploration permit from Woodside Petroleum
2007	Eni acquires 40% stake in two Timor Sea oilfields from Woodside Petroleum
2007	Woodside and Hess awarded exploration permit offshore Australia
2007	Woodside Petroleum sells 40.45% stake in offshore PNG lease to Merrill Lynch
2007	Tap Oil acquires 8.2% interest in Australian exploration permit from Woodside
2007	Woodside and KNOC jointly awarded  exploration blocks offshore South Korea
2006	Woodside acquires 25% interest in nine Brazil exploration blocks from Repsol YPF
2006	Repsol YPF farms into Woodside's offshore Kenya blocks
2006	Santos acquires additional interest in Australia gas field from Woodside
2006	Woodside, Total and Japan Australia LNG awarded two Australia exploration blocks

Source: Derrick Petroleum E&P Transactions Database

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Shell Australia to sell down its remaining 24.27% stake in Woodside Petroleum worth approximately $8 billion; Is Shell losing interest because it is unable to acquire Woodside completely???

SHELL Australia chairwoman Ann Pickard says “We hoped Woodside would be the vehicle (to develop projects in Australia)  but when it became clear Woodside couldn’t be the vehicle we decided to develop our own projects”.  

Woodside holds interests in oil and gas assets in Australia, the Gulf of Mexico, Korea, and Brazil. Woodside’s principal assets in Australia include: Pluto LNG, Browse LNG, Sunrise LNG, North Rankin Redevelopment and North West Shelf Oil FPSO Replacement Project. 

The key highlights of Woodside include:

-- Woodside’s share of production for the quarter ended 31 Dec 2010: 17.688 MMBOE (Oil 41%)
-- 2010 year end reserves: Proved - 1.308 MMBOE, Proved plus Probable (2P) - 1.680 MMBOE (Gas-84%) and contingent resources - 1.814 MMBOE
-- 99% of 2P Reserves are in Australia and remaining 1% in GoM and other international areas.