PERTH, June 26, 2026, 01:04 (AWST)
- Woodside ended the session at A$27.43, off 2.87%. Volume hit 8.33 million shares, about 52% higher than its average on the exchange.
- The stock dropped over four times the S&P/ASX 200’s decline. The index slipped 0.68%.
- Woodside signed a gas deal to supply Alcoa Corp’s (NYSE:AA) Australia arm with 31.1 petajoules in total, or about 7.8 PJ per year on average. Another 200 PJ Bass Strait option comes with policy risk.
Woodside Energy Group Ltd ASX:WDS shed around A$1.54 billion in market value Thursday as crude prices dropped. Chief Executive Liz Westcott set a policy condition for future Bass Strait drilling.
Shares fell A$0.81 to A$27.43. The stock has lost 5.3% over the past week but remains up 19% for 2026.
Australian shares finished down 0.68%, dragged lower by commodity names. Woodside dropped more than four times as much as the benchmark, with volume confirming there was no shortage of sellers.
Brent crude August futures sat at $73.49 a barrel late Thursday, while WTI traded at $70.10. Both hit their lowest since February 27 as extra barrels moved out of the Persian Gulf. “The backlog of vessels in the Persian Gulf is being cleared, which has created a wave of supply,” said Rystad Energy analyst Janiv Shah. Reuters
Woodside said Tuesday it will supply Alcoa of Australia with 31.1 PJ of gas from Western Australia between 2027 and 2030. The companies did not disclose the contract’s value. “Woodside is continuing to bring gas to the Western Australian market, supporting local industries,” said commercial head Mark Abbotsford.
Woodside’s contract works out to 7.8 PJ annually on a straight-line basis. That’s roughly 8.6% of Woodside’s Western Australian domestic production share of 90.3 PJ in 2025. The volume is steady and industrial, but deliveries kick off in 2027. The figure is too low to shift Woodside’s oil exposure in the near term.
Westcott said Thursday Woodside is looking at four possible Bass Strait wells that might deliver as much as 200 PJ—about 6.4 times the size of the full Alcoa contract. She said whether Woodside moves to a final investment decision would depend on “the impact of the Federal Government’s new domestic gas reservation scheme.”
Federal scheme kicks off July 1, 2027. Gas exporters must deliver to the domestic market an amount matching 20% of their exports. Contracts signed before December 22, 2025 stay in place. The government says the move will cut prices and stave off shortages.
Woodside is getting set to take over Bass Strait operations from Exxon Mobil Corp NYSE:XOM. The fields now send all their gas to the Australian market and meet around 40% of east coast demand. Westcott’s warning seems focused on what the scheme might do to domestic prices and project returns, not shifting Bass Strait gas from home use to export. The company didn’t disclose a hurdle price for the wells.
Woodside reports second-quarter numbers on July 29 and releases half-year results August 25. Investors are watching for updates on realised prices and whether there’s any shift in Bass Strait timing.
