SYDNEY, May 18, 2026, 01:05 AEST
Woodside Energy Group Ltd starts the week in focus as its Browse gas project draws attention again. This comes after Japan’s INPEX said it would take PetroChina’s 10.67% stake in the project. Woodside (WDS) ended Friday’s session up 2.1% at A$31.25. Shares added roughly 4% in the five sessions to May 15, well ahead of the lagging local market.
Why it matters right now is Browse. It’s Australia’s largest undeveloped offshore gas field, and Woodside plans to send the gas to the North West Shelf’s Karratha plant. LNG, or liquefied natural gas, is made by chilling gas into a liquid so tankers can carry it.
ASX cash trading wasn’t open at the dateline. Regular hours are 09:59:45 to 16:00 Sydney time. The S&P/ASX 200 closed Friday at 8,630.80, off 0.11% for the day and down 1.3% for the week.
Santos shares closed Friday up 2.7% at A$7.88. Origin Energy finished lower at A$11.49. With those moves, Woodside’s move looked more like an upstream oil-and-gas trade than a run across the sector. Upstream is the part of the industry that produces oil and gas.
INPEX said its unit has agreed to a sale and purchase deal with PetroChina International Investment (Australia), but the sale still needs regulatory and Browse partner sign-off. MST Marquee analyst Saul Kavonic told Reuters the deal “could cause” another partner to trigger pre-emptive rights, which would let them buy the stake ahead of PetroChina. Reuters
Woodside said in a Saturday release it plans to review the transaction using its standard process. The company did not express concern. Deloitte Access Economics, in modelling done for Woodside, put Browse’s possible boost to national GDP at more than A$141 billion and its tax contribution at more than A$56 billion.
Oil pushed higher. Brent crude ended Friday at $109.26, up 3.35%. The move came as U.S.-Iran tensions kept traders focused on the Strait of Hormuz, where Reuters says about a fifth of global oil and LNG passes through. Vandana Hari of Vanda Insights said the market had shifted back to watching the stalemate and the danger of “renewed military escalation.” Reuters
Woodside flagged its own operations, too. Its latest quarterly report showed production at 45.2 MMboe, down 8% from the previous quarter. The company pointed to seasonal weather. Scarborough was 96% built, and still aiming for its first LNG cargo in the fourth quarter.
Woodside CEO Liz Westcott said higher spot prices should mean “further benefits” for LNG in coming quarters, with contract pricing trailing spot moves. Marc Jocum, senior product and investment strategist at Global X ETFs, said investors will watch for “mid-single-digit efficiency gains” as Woodside reviews its business. Reuters
Labour is on the radar this week as some Woodside workers at the Karratha gas plant and Pluto LNG sites are set to start strikes from Wednesday, according to the Offshore Alliance union. The union has called for Protected Industrial Action as part of its bargaining push.
But it’s not a done deal. Browse still needs environmental sign-off and work on processing agreements, and the project cost is now put at A$48.7 billion, which includes carbon capture and storage. That’s the technology for trapping carbon and burying it underground. Environmental groups are against the project, saying it threatens Scott Reef. A drop in crude, if there’s movement on Hormuz, could cool some of the urgency in Woodside’s push.
WDS faces a three-part test this week. Oil needs to hold, INPEX’s move is in focus for what it means for Browse, and there’s pressure on Woodside to keep Scarborough and other growth projects lined up. The first trade on Monday will start to sort out Friday’s move between crude prices and Browse news.
