Woodside profit and dividend beat estimates, flags much interest for Driftwood stake sale

By Himanshi Akhand and Lewis Jackson

(Reuters) - Australia's Woodside Energy reported a 14% decline in half-year profit on Tuesday on lower oil prices but the result and its dividend came in better than market expectations, sending its shares 4% higher.

Chief Executive Meg O'Neill said there had been a flood of interest in the proposed sale of equity in Driftwood, a U.S. liquefied natural gas export project Woodside is set to own when it purchases U.S. LNG developer Tellurian for $1.2 billion including debt.

"We're looking at companies who can support with upstream gas supply, we're looking at companies that have an interest in offtake and we're looking at companies who might be interested in just the infrastructure elements of the plant," said.

Woodside aims to have firm commitments on equity sales, if not signed deals, before it makes a final investment decision in the first quarter of 2025, she added.

It posted underlying net profit after tax of $1.63 billion for the six-month period ended June 30, handily beating a Visible Alpha consensus estimate of $1.38 billion.

Shares in company surged and were 4.1% higher in afternoon trade.

The profit slump was mainly due to lower oil prices and Woodside's average realized price fell to $63 per barrel of oil equivalent from $74 in the same period last year.

Woodside also declared an interim dividend of 69 U.S. cents per share, down from 80 U.S. cents a year earlier, representing 80% of underlying net profit after tax. The company had flagged a payout range of 50-80% and the market had expected a payout of 55 cents.

(Reporting by Himanshi Akhand and Roshan Thomas in Bengaluru and Lewis Jackson in Sydney; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)