PERTH, March 28, 2026, 04:09 AWST
Woodside Energy Group Ltd ticked higher Friday, with Reuters’ delayed data putting the stock at A$34.47, a 0.26% lift. Brent crude’s 4.2% jump kept energy markets tight, as investors watched for further fallout from the Middle East war.
Woodside remains anchored in LNG and oil, despite moves to branch into ammonia and push into North America. Liz Westcott stepped in as CEO this month, just as the company faces a more subdued production forecast for 2026. She’s already flagged attracting additional investors to the Louisiana LNG project as a key focus in the near term.
Western Australia threw up the first operational snag. On Friday, Reuters said Tropical Cyclone Narelle forced Woodside to halt production at the Karratha gas plant—the North West Shelf project’s onshore hub. Chevron, for its part, was still trying to bring its Gorgon and Wheatstone LNG facilities back online.
This goes further than Australia. Brent finished Friday at $112.57 a barrel, a jump of $4.56. StoneX’s Alex Hodes flagged that if the Strait of Hormuz stays shut for long, the market’s going to hold on to a “significant risk premium.” Reuters
On Thursday, Woodside told investors it now holds operational control of the Beaumont New Ammonia facility in Texas, following the handover from OCI Global. The site’s annual capacity: 1.1 million tonnes of ammonia for production and export. Westcott described this as “an important milestone” for Woodside’s effort to expand into new energy products and lower-carbon offerings. The company noted it has locked in offtake agreements at current market pricing. However, Woodside now expects lower-carbon ammonia output only after 2026, citing construction delays at a third-party feedstock supplier. Reuters
Other gas exporters are catching a similar wave. This week, Reuters noted that investors poured into companies like Venture Global and Cheniere. Jefferies analyst Mike Wilson called the recent “gas price ramp” the sharpest indicator for markets right now. Reuters
Investors also have funding on their minds. “A further sell-down of Louisiana LNG would monetise a high-quality asset while helping to de-risk the balance sheet,” said Tim Waterer, chief market analyst at KCM Trade. Reuters
Here’s the risk: Back in January, Woodside flagged that its 2026 output would take a hit, pointing to scheduled Pluto LNG maintenance and when Scarborough comes online—Jarden’s Nik Burns notes those numbers are still tracking under where the market had set its sights. This week, a Reuters analyst poll flagged another wild card: oil prices could lurch in either direction, depending on how war scenarios play out. That tailwind Woodside is riding? It could disappear fast if the market’s supply worries subside.
