Woodside Considers Buying Back Shell’s $7.6 Billion Stake With Pluto Cash

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Woodside Petroleum CEO Peter Coleman

Brendon Thorne/Bloomberg

Peter Coleman, chief executive officer of Woodside Petroleum Ltd.

Peter Coleman, chief executive officer of Woodside Petroleum Ltd. Photographer: Brendon Thorne/Bloomberg

 

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Feb. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Woodside Petroleum Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Peter Coleman talks about the company's financial results and business outlook. Woodside, Australia’s second-largest oil and gas producer, said yesterday full-year profit dropped 4 percent on one-time charges, including expenses for the delay of its Pluto project in Western Australia. Coleman also discusses the dispute within the nation's ruling Labor party. He speaks from Sydney with Zeb Eckert on Bloomberg Television's "First Up." (Source: Bloomberg)

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Woodside Petroleum CEO Peter Coleman

Brendon Thorne/Bloomberg

Peter Coleman, chief executive officer of Woodside Petroleum Ltd., said the Perth-based company has set up a strategy team to explore the possibility of overseas expansion, including in the U.S. and Africa.

Peter Coleman, chief executive officer of Woodside Petroleum Ltd., said the Perth-based company has set up a strategy team to explore the possibility of overseas expansion, including in the U.S. and Africa. Photographer: Brendon Thorne/Bloomberg

Woodside (WPL) Petroleum Ltd., Australia’s second-largest oil and gas producer, is considering buying back Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA)’s 24 percent stake in the company, Chief Executive Officer Peter Coleman said in an interview.

“It is an option,” with Woodside’s A$14.9 billion Pluto liquefied natural gas project in Western Australia set to start in March, Coleman said in Sydney today. “Woodside is in a very fortunate position over the next 12 months to 18 months. With Pluto coming online we’re going to start to generate a lot of cash.”

The Perth-based company has set up a strategy team to explore the possibility of overseas expansion, including in the U.S. and Africa, Coleman said. Woodside is also studying how much LNG the U.S. may export in the future and its likely impact on international energy markets, he said.