(Reuters) -Australia’s top oil and gas explorer Woodside Energy reported a 37% slump in its full-year underlying profit on Tuesday as lower realised prices for its products offset higher annual sales and production.
Oil and natural gas prices have softened as slowing global growth and a weaker-than-expected economic recovery in China weighed on demand which has affected majority of the energy sector.
The energy giant’s underlying net profit after tax was $3.32 billion for the year ending December 31, 2023, beating an LSEG estimate of $3.03 billion. That compares with an underlying profit of $5.23 billion a year ago.
Woodside, which recently scrapped talks of a potential $52 billion merger with smaller rival Santos, announced a final dividend of 60 cents per share, lower than 144 cents apiece declared for 2022.
The oil and gas explorer maintained its fiscal 2024 production guidance of between 185 and 195 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe).
(Reporting by Sameer Manekar and Rishav Chatterjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)
