The Woodside Energy Group Ltd (ASX: WDS) share price is down 2% after the ASX energy share announced a significant LNG deal.
Woodside is one of the largest oil and gas companies in the Asia Pacific region.
Deal to buy Tellurian and Driftwood LNG
Woodside has entered into a deal to buy all of the shares of Tellurian (NYSE: TELL) including its owned and operated US Gulf Coast Driftwood LNG development opportunity.
The ASX energy share said the all-cash payment is approximately US$900 million or $1 per share of outstanding Tellurian shares.
This puts the implied enterprise value – which takes into account the cash/debt the business has – at approximately US$1.2 billion.
Woodside said this “represents an attractive opportunity with more than $1 billion of expenditure incurred to date.”
The ASX energy share said this strengthens its position to deliver on its strategy to “thrive through the energy transition” and it increases its long-term cashflow generation potential.
The company also said its “target of reducing net equity scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2030, and aspiration for net zero by 2050, are unchanged.”
Management commentary
The Woodside CEO Meg O’Neill said:
The acquisition of Tellurian and its Driftwood LNG development opportunity positions Woodside to be a global LNG powerhouse.
It adds a scalable US LNG development opportunity to our existing approximately 10 Mtpa of equity LNG in Australia. Having a complementary US position would allow us to better serve customers globally and capture further marketing optimisation opportunities across both the Atlantic and Pacific Basins.
The Driftwood LNG development opportunity is competitively advantaged. Woodside expects to leverage its global LNG expertise to unlock this fully permitted development and expand our relationship with Bechtel which is the EPC contractor for both Driftwood LNG and our Pluto Train 2 project in Australia.
Final thoughts on Woodside shares
The Woodside share price is down more than 20% over the past year, so it’s a lot cheaper than it was.
Enviromental concerns aside, growing its exposure to LNG is probably a good move as it likely be part of the global energy mix for decades.
The company now has a number of growth projects and the lower Woodside share price could mean it’s a somewhat contrarian opportunity, though it’s not something I’m personally looking to buy for my own portfolio.
