Woodside Petroleum Limited
 |
|
| Public | |
| Traded as | ASX: WPL |
| Industry | Oil and gas |
| Predecessor | Woodside (Lakes Entrance) Oil Co NL |
| Founded | 26 July 1954 |
| Headquarters |
Woodside Plaza Perth, Western Australia, Australia |
|
Key people
|
Peter Coleman, CEO |
| Products |
Petroleum LNG |
| Revenue |
 A$4.496 billion (2015) |
| Profit |
$26 million US$ (2015) |
| Owner | Royal Dutch Shell (13.3%) |
|
Number of employees
|
~3000 |
| Website | www |
Woodside Petroleum Limited is an Australian petroleum exploration and production company. Woodside is the largest operator of oil and gas production in Australia and also Australia’s largest independent dedicated oil and gas company. It is a public company listed on the Australian Securities Exchange and has its headquarters in Perth, Western Australia.
Woodside was incorporated on 26 July 1954. It was originally named Woodside (Lakes Entrance) Oil Co NL and it was named after the small town of Woodside, Victoria. Woodside's early years were focussed on Victoria's Gippsland Basin. Switching to northern Western Australia in the early 1960s, Woodside joined up with Shell and Burmah Oil to form the original North West Shelf consortium. BHP later replaced Burmah, and with Shell, each became a 40% shareholder in Woodside. In the early 1990s both BHP and Shell agreed to sell down to 34% stakes each, before BHP sold out completely (for an average price of $3 per share, completing the sale in October 1994).
In 2001 Shell sought to buy out the remaining portion of the company that it did not already own at the time; however, the takeover move was blocked by the Treasurer of Australia at the time, Peter Costello, on national interest grounds. On 9 November 2010, Shell sold approximately one-third of its 34% stake to institutional investors at a share price of A$42.23, reducing its overall stake in Woodside to 24%. On 17 June 2014, Shell announced it would reduce its remaining 23.1% stake to 4.5% through a sale on the market to institutional investors, and a buy-back by Woodside, to which the company had agreed. The following day Shell sold 9.5% to institutions. An extraordinary meeting of Woodside shareholders to approve the buyback on 1 August 2014 however failed to achieve a majority 75% vote, falling short at 72%. Shell announced it was reviewing its options.
On 30 May 2011 Peter Coleman succeeded Don Voelte as the company’s Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director.
Woodside has exploration, development and operating activities in Australia and a number of international regions including Canada, United States, Senegal Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Myanmar, Cameroon, Gabon, Morocco and Ireland. Within Australia Woodside operates or is developing a number of liquefied natural gas projects. The company also operates the Enfield and Vincent oil fields offshore from Exmouth in Western Australia.
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Wikipedia