BHP deal buys Woodside space to plan life beyond fossil fuels
For more than 50 years, the name Woodside has been synonymous with oil and gas in Australia.
Key points:Although preceded by Australian mining giant BHP in the petroleum game, Woodside rose to become the local champion of an industry that fuelled much of the world's economic activity.
Such was Woodside's financial and political importance in Australia, in 2001 the then treasurer Peter Costello famously torpedoed a takeover bid by Royal Dutch Shell on national interest grounds.
But as the ground shifted underneath the fossil fuel industry in recent years and investors began spurning fossil fuels, a little-acknowledged reality began dawning on observers.
Woodside was â€" without the successful execution of a last-gasp LNG development â€" seemingly a company without much of a future.
That was until this week when news of a proposed tie-up between Woodside and the oil and gas arm of mining giant BHP led analysts to say the company now had a path forward.
Deal 'clears path' for WoodsideSupplied: Woodside
)The deal would involve the merger of the two businesses in a transaction valued at $41 billion.
Crucially, Graeme Bethune from consultancy EnergyQuest said the agreement would pave the way for the planned $US12 billion Scarborough LNG development off Western Australia's north-west coast.
Doubts had been growing about whether Scarborough would go ahead given BHP owns 26.5 per cent of the project and had been tight-lipped about when or whether it would commit to a final investment decision.
Mr Bethune said the proposed new Woodside would own 100 per cent of the project and have few qualms about proceeding.
"Getting other joint venture partners across the line on major investment decisions is always tough," Mr Bethune said.
"So, certainly, Woodside having 100 per cent of Scarborough will make it much easier to go ahead with the project."
As part of the deal, Woodside will acquire what Mr Bethune said was a raft of high-performing oil and gas assets around the world including some in the Gulf of Mexico.
He said these assets were "major generators of cash" and would significantly boost Woodside's financial firepower.
However, Mr Bethune said that, while Woodside would roughly double in size thanks to the BHP deal, the window of opportunity for big new "greenfield" oil and gas developments was closing.
Get the latest rural newsScarborough 'could be last'Provided Scarborough went ahead, Mr Bethune said, it could be the last major LNG project of its kind developed in Australia.
"The cheapest kinds of expansions in LNG are brownfield projects, either incremental expansions of existing projects and backfilling them too," he said.
Supplied: Woodside
)"I don't think we should be in a search for brand new projects.
"I think we've got a good basis for incremental expansion of our existing projects."
Recent uncertainty about the fate of Scarborough stands in contrast to the record of the gas industry over the past 15 years, when $300 billion was spent on giant new projects around the country.
Alison George, head of research at responsible investment firm Regnan, said concerns about the oil and gas industry's carbon emissions were making it much harder for new projects to go ahead.
Ms George said such concerns might have ensnared Scarborough but the BHP merger would "clear a path" and buy Woodside "time and money" to figure out a life beyond fossil fuels.
She noted Woodside itself had identified hydrogen and ammonia as other options to pursue as the world shifted towards net-zero emissions.
A narrow route widens"The existing fields Woodside operates were starting to decline and had an outlook of decline," Ms George said.
"So, they were really looking for what were the next assets they could develop that were going to continue to let them operate the infrastructure they have.
"The pathway to that was narrower. There were fewer choices for that.
"Now, with this much more diversified asset base, there are many more opportunities."
Supplied: Woodside
)Benefits not without risksAccording to Ms George, the BHP deal clarified Woodside's position as an oil and gas "pure play" while elevating it to a league among the world's biggest producers.
Ms George noted this could make it easier for Woodside to attract money from overseas investors but there were potential downsides as well.
She said that, by becoming a major oil and gas player internationally, Woodside "may be sticking its head above the parapet" regarding its environmental performance.
"With the scale that it's bringing to Woodside, it's going to bring it to the attention of a lot of investors who may not have necessarily paid attention in the past," she said.
"It's also going to bring it to the attention of climate activists in a new way.
"So, while Woodside has certainly heard strongly from its local institutional shareholder base on the climate transition in recent years, I think this move may well make that more intense and those conversations more diverse globally."
ABC: Daniel Mercer
)This week, Woodside's chief executive, Meg O'Neill, said the deal â€" which would be paid for by issuing scrip to BHP shareholders â€" took account of BHP's liabilities for decommissioning declining assets in places such as Bass Strait and Western Australia.
Ms O'Neill said the fact Woodside was not assuming any debt as part of the deal also meant it would be well placed to chase "low carbon opportunities" in the future.
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