WDS - Woodside Energy Group

Knobby22 said:

By the way, I got some sad news on Friday. I am a lighting designer and Planet Lighting, an Australian company, is one of the few companies in the world that can blow large glass is closing their blowing plant. They are closing it town. Not because of wages, but because of gas prices. This has happened to me before. It appears to be cheaper to pay Germans of French to make aluminium poles than here in Australia because they get the aluminium cheaper. The same now is true of gas. Crazy. And sad for the NSW country town where they are the major employer.

We need new government thinking, and that means we have to stop electing lawyers into government. I am talking both sides here.

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Is there anywhere in the world where gas/electricity "reforms" have done anything other than drive prices through the roof? It was one of Thatcher's ideas that much of the world copied even though it didn't work.

WPL $37.960 +$3.360 +9.71% today

Special Dividend and Dividend Payout
Announced on: 23/04/2013 09:28:36
http://www.asx.com.au/asx/statistics/displayAnnouncement.do?display=pdf&idsId=01402052

ASX Announcement
Tuesday, 23 April 2013
SPECIAL DIVIDEND AND DIVIDEND PAYOUT

The Board of Woodside today announced a plan to return additional cash to its shareholders.
“Woodside is in the fortunate position, at the present time, of having a number of promising growth
prospects ahead of it and also experiencing strong cash flows.” said Chairman, Michael Chaney.
“Given the lead times involved with the growth projects and forecast reductions in the company’s debt
levels, the Board has concluded that it would be appropriate to pay a special dividend to shareholders
now and increase the company’s dividend payout ratio.”

“These initiatives reflect the Board’s commitment to disciplined capital management and desire to
distribute additional franking credits to our shareholders. At the same time we shall continue to pursue
growth opportunities where we believe they will create value for shareholders.” said Mr Chaney.

Special Dividend
The Board has declared a special dividend of US$0.63 per share. The dividend will be paid on 29 May
2013 to all shareholders registered on the record date of 6 May 2013. The ex-dividend date for dividend
entitlement will be 30 April 2013. The dividend will be fully franked for Australian taxation purposes.
Woodside dividends are determined and declared in US dollars. However, shareholders will receive their
dividend in Australian dollars unless their registered address is in the United Kingdom, where they will
receive their dividend in British pounds, or in the United States, where they will receive their dividend in
US dollars.

Currency conversion will be based on the foreign currency exchange rates on the record date of 6 May
2013.

Shareholders who reside outside of the United States can elect to receive their dividend in US dollars.
Shareholders must make an election to alter their dividend currency on or before the record date of 6 May
2013 by contacting the Woodside share registry on 1300 558 507 (within Australia) or +61 3 9415 4632
(outside Australia).

Dividends
Given Woodside’s strong liquidity position and franking credit balance, the Board has determined that
effective immediately the company will target a dividend payout ratio of 80% of underlying net profit after
tax. Based on current forecasts, this payout ratio is expected to be maintained for several years. This will
be reviewed in the event of significant new capital investments or if business performance or external
circumstances change materially.

Dividend Reinvestment Plan
The Board has determined that the Dividend Reinvestment Plan (DRP) will continue to be suspended.

7630

Good result

touching 52 week highs today at $39.210....

onward and upward??

Wow little interest in this thread???

Royal Dutch Shell's Woodside share sell-off a long time coming
By ABC business editor Ian Verrender

It has been the longest corporate divorce in Australian history.

More than 13 years after then treasurer Peter Costello controversially denied Royal Dutch Shell the right to launch a takeover bid for the then highly prospective Western Australian oil and gas giant Woodside, the two companies have been examining ways to end the marriage.

It was a painful personal decision for Mr Costello, who rejected the 2001 takeover on national interest grounds while arguing Australia still welcomed foreign investment.

With no chance of ever moving to full control, and clearly unhappy about being stuck with a 33 per cent stake, speculation ever since has swirled around Woodside's ownership structure, with the massive share overhang effectively capping Woodside's share price.

Despite the ownership unease, both companies will remain business partners with strong operational links and this morning's announcement neatly fits the ambitions of both, delivering a $5.3 billion cash injection for Shell and shoring up Woodside's balance sheet.

Shell teamed up with Woodside in the 1960s to partner the development of the North West Shelf oil and gas fields and will remain so.

The Dutch offloaded a 10 per cent stake in Woodside three years ago, in a move that took the market by surprise but which then heightened speculation on the timing of a complete exit.

The Dutch group has been a lacklustre performer in recent years and has come under fire from shareholders who have been agitating for the company to relinquish its remaining Woodside holding to free up capital.

While there has been speculation all year that the pair would sever the ownership link, it was delayed by continued development problems with Woodside's controversial Browse project, in which Shell owns a 27 per cent stake.

In addition to the North West Shelf and Browse, Shell is a partner in Woodside's controversial Greater Sunshine project located midway between Australia and East Timor.

The two companies last year upset Western Australian premier Colin Barnett with their decision to can an onshore processing facility at James Price Point on the WA coast, opting instead to utilise Shell's revolutionary floating liquefied natural gas processing technology.

Of the remaining 23 per cent, Woodside will end up buying back 9.5 per cent with a similar amount sold to investment institutions.

Under the terms of the deal, Shell will retain a 4.5 per cent stake. But given that is below the 5 per cent Australian disclosure requirements, it will be able to quietly offload the remaining shares at its own pace.

To some extent, Shell's exit has been aided by Woodside's recent decision to abandon the massive Leviathan project in Israel. The on-again, off-again $2.5 billion deal was trumpeted by Woodside as the source of its future growth.

Without that deal, Woodside now needs to restructure its balance sheet and buying back part of Shell's stake neatly enables it to deploy the cash earmarked for Leviathan and lift earnings per share.

As a shareholder I'm interested. With recent developments, James Price Point, Leviathan, the Shell sell down, what's next for WPL?

I note that it's been mentioned in another thread that a play on Santos might be on the cards but an oiler expert I am not. Am happy to be getting those juicy div's of recent times though.

A play on Santos is a blatant ramp for Santos.
WPL has just made a massive purchase and hence is not likely to move on anything any time soon.
What did it buy? - Itself.
It's not being touted as much of a growth stock now.
More an oil bond.

Yes, I agree. Why would they want Santos. The quality is too low.
I heard rumours they wanted Oil Search as it has a good growth profile but WPL management said it was too expensive some months ago.

Their debt is low and dropping rapidly even after buying out Shell. I think they will attempt a takeover or a big buy at some stage.

Craton said:

As a shareholder I'm interested. With recent developments, James Price Point, Leviathan, the Shell sell down, what's next for WPL?

I note that it's been mentioned in another thread that a play on Santos might be on the cards but an oiler expert I am not. Am happy to be getting those juicy div's of recent times though.

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Dividend cash cow for institutional and SMSF investors. They are welcome to buy my shares in HZN for $0.60 though if they are looking for takeovers.

Seems to be a bit of resistance to the deal mainly with regard to the franking credits.
I get the feeling that the institutions thinking Shell is getting too good a deal. If the vote fails however then this may be a bad outcome for us small investors.

Woodside bought back 9.5 per cent of itself for around $40.00 a share in mid June.
Brilliant ain't they!
I mean it's not as if they could have guessed that the US fraking boom was going to make a difference to the mad Arab supply manipulation.
No one new about the fraking revolution did they?
Least of all the oil giants.
Maybe Shell saw something.
What a joke.
Wonder if the dick head Peter Coleman will get a plum job at Shell after his glorious achievements at WPL.
Don Voelte may have underperformed but at least he didn't do that!!!

Anybody got a technical on this stock? I sold out after it went ex div but I'm looking to get back in early next year.

To be fair, there weren't too many predicting that the price of oil would fall significantly below the point at which fraccing makes a profit.

Assuming we're going to keep burning the stuff, and that seems fairly certain at least in the medium term, then there's really 3 plausible outcomes:

1. A surge in prices back to the point that makes new production viable at present costs.

2. The industry is willing to keep building new projects at a loss in order to maintain volumes and market share.

3. They cut back on drilling, crashing the price of drilling as such (which is a market in itself), and lowering costs for a smaller volume of new development.

My guess is that 3 is the most likely outcome and we'll see moderate price rises in the not too distant future.

fanger said:

Anybody got a technical on this stock? I sold out after it went ex div but I'm looking to get back in early next year.

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The most likely scenario is that WPL is ending it's Primary degree Triangle and $32 area is the best target for entry. This Triangle implies that a sizeable rally will develop after the bottom is reached.

Oil is sporting the last waves of the recent crash and a few year countertrend move to $80-90 area will be the most likely outcome. Probably this will help to lift stocks like WPL

rimtas said:

The most likely scenario is that WPL is ending it's Primary degree Triangle and $32 area is the best target for entry. This Triangle implies that a sizeable rally will develop after the bottom is reached.

Oil is sporting the last waves of the recent crash and a few year countertrend move to $80-90 area will be the most likely outcome. Probably this will help to lift stocks like WPL


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Thank you

Smurf1976 said:

To be fair, there weren't too many predicting that the price of oil would fall significantly below the point at which fraccing makes a profit.

Assuming we're going to keep burning the stuff, and that seems fairly certain at least in the medium term, then there's really 3 plausible outcomes:

1. A surge in prices back to the point that makes new production viable at present costs.

2. The industry is willing to keep building new projects at a loss in order to maintain volumes and market share.

3. They cut back on drilling, crashing the price of drilling as such (which is a market in itself), and lowering costs for a smaller volume of new development.

My guess is that 3 is the most likely outcome and we'll see moderate price rises in the not too distant future.

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Isn't the going thinking that opec is trying to crash US Shale. I know a few companies are hedged but once those contracts are up there will be a shakeout of the weaker players. The break even to drill for shale is getting cheaper though.
Some oilys looking cheap, some have halved over a few weeks.

An interesting point in time here for WPL.

It has been testing and found responsive buying at 34. Now it has retraced 50% of the declines from the highs back in August. It is aligned with the value area between 36.60 and 39.60. So i would be inclined to be bullish above 39.60, but i would certainly be a seller below 36.60. Obviously the Crude Oil price is having a big impact on price here, responsible for the declines.

We might see some consolidation around this current value area.

Fundamentally the stock is one of the most attractive Energy plays on the ASX.

Cheers,


CanOz

Have just started out in the stock market, and purchased WPL shares. Noticed in just under a month the shares have risen 184 c above the purchase price. Apparently will be one of the strong stocks in 2015 after a healthy 2014 profit.

According to their presentation their average realised oil price was just over $100 a barrel. Additionally, also in the presentation, for every $1 drop in oil, equates to $25M lost at NPAT.

What do you reckon the next report will look like? Also, how sustainable will that dividend be if there NPAT is significantly chopped?

Interesting bearish article on finrev:

http://www.afr.com/business/energy/...-to-reveal-hit-to-lng-revenue-20150713-giach9

In addition, the recent price action looks quite bearish for WPL. The recent support at approx 33.8 was broken a couple of days ago. A target could be the spike low of 32 even.