Australia’s Woodside Energy Seeks Delisting from LSE

Woodside Energy, an Australian petroleum exploration and production company, on Wednesday announced that it has reviewed its current listing structure and decided to delist from the London Stock Exchange (LSE).

In accordance with UK Listing Rule 21.2.17, Woodside is required to give at least 20 business days’ notice of the intended cancellation of the listing of its shares and the last day trading of Woodside shares on the exchange will be 19 November, the company informed the LSE this morning.

Woodside has applied to the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the LSE to cancel the admission of Woodside shares to listing in the International Commercial Companies Secondary Listing category of the Official List of the FCA and trading under the ticker WDS on the Main Market for listed securities of the LSE.

Woodside shares represented by depositary interests account for approximately 1% of Woodside’s issued share capital. Trading volumes of Woodside shares on the LSE are low and delisting from the LSE will reduce Woodside’s administration costs.

It is expected that the admission of Woodside’s shares to the International Commercial Companies Secondary Listing category of the Official List and to trading on the LSE’s Main Market for listed securities will be cancelled with effect from 8 a.m. (GMT) on 20 November 2024.

However, Woodside’s primary listing on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) and its American Depositary Receipts (ADR) program on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) will not be affected by the delisting of Woodside shares from the LSE, the company said.

Financial Performance

Woodside Energy, also released its financial statement for the three months ended 30 September and said that the production increased 11% to a record 53.1 million from 47.8 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, while sales rose 4.7% to 55.8 million from 53.3 million.

This was driven by the ramp-up of Senegal’s first oil and gas field Sangomar, which is located near Dakar, and jointly owned by Woodside and Petrosen, and increased uptime across operated assets. This includes 99.9% LNG reliability at Pluto and increased seasonal domestic gas demand.

Speaking of the Sangomar ramp up, Woodside revealed that it achieved nameplate capacity at Sangomar with gross production rates of 100,000 barrels per day.

The Woodside’s revenue generation in the third quarter was said to be around $3.68 billion, which was up 21% from the second quarter. Woodside said that this was primarily due to Sangomar cargo sales and higher average LNG prices.

Woodside Energy’s CEO Meg O’Neill said that the strong operational performance was underpinned by the accelerated ramp-up of Sangomar and exceptional performance at Pluto [liquefied natural gas] and North West Shelf project, which recorded 99.9% and 99.2% reliability respectively.

“Our 39% exposure to LNG gas hub indices allowed us to take advantage of increased LNG spot prices in the market over the period, demonstrating the importance of maintaining a balanced and flexible portfolio,” she added.