Woodside Energy Group Ltd stock is heading into the end of 2025 with two big storylines dominating the tape: a sudden CEO transition and a project-heavy growth pipeline that will define cash flow, dividends, and market confidence over the next several years.
The near-term spark came this week when Woodside confirmed CEO and Managing Director Meg O’Neill has resigned after accepting the CEO role at BP, with Woodside executive Liz Westcott appointed Acting CEO effective 18 December 2025. [1]
For investors in Woodside shares—whether on the ASX (WDS) or the NYSE listing (WDS)—the question now is less “What happened?” and more: Does leadership continuity hold while Woodside executes Scarborough and Louisiana LNG in an LNG market where analysts are increasingly debating oversupply risk? [2]
Why Woodside stock is in focus: Meg O’Neill’s resignation and the Acting CEO appointment
Woodside’s board moved quickly to stabilise the narrative after O’Neill’s surprise exit to BP, naming Liz Westcott as Acting CEO and flagging an intention to conclude the CEO succession process—and announce a permanent appointment—in the first quarter of 2026. [3]
In its ASX announcement, Woodside also explicitly tied O’Neill’s tenure to shareholder returns, stating business performance translated into approximately US$11 billion in dividends paid to shareholders since 2022. [4]
Markets treated the change as material. Reuters reported Woodside shares fell as much as 2.9% after the news of O’Neill’s departure. [5] Reuters separately noted the stock fell 2.65% on the day in Australia following the leadership shake-up. [6]
The bigger context: leadership change collides with a capital-intensive LNG agenda
CEO transitions are rarely just “people news” in energy—especially when the company is in the middle of large-scale project delivery.
Reuters’ deeper dive framed Woodside’s next CEO challenge bluntly: delivering major LNG projects while facing construction risk and a market “braced for oversupply.” [7]
Two projects sit at the center of that story:
- Scarborough Energy Project (Australia)—late-stage construction, first LNG targeted in H2 2026. [8]
- Woodside Louisiana LNG (United States)—a multi-phase megaproject where financing structure, offtake, regulatory timelines, and global LNG pricing assumptions matter enormously. [9]
Project and operations update: what Woodside last reported in 2025
Third Quarter 2025: production, guidance, and reliability
Woodside’s most recent quarterly operational snapshot (Third Quarter Report for the period ended 30 September 2025) highlighted:
- Quarterly production of 50.8 MMboe (552 Mboe/d), up 1% from Q2 2025. [10]
- Full-year 2025 production guidance revised to 192–197 MMboe. [11]
- Average realised quarterly price of US$60/boe. [12]
- Pluto LNG reliability of 100% for the quarter (and North West Shelf LNG reliability referenced at 99.9% in the report narrative). [13]
For equity investors, those datapoints matter because they set the baseline for dividend capacity while the company spends heavily on growth capex.
Scarborough Energy Project: nearing the finish line
Scarborough remains Woodside’s flagship Australian growth project. Woodside states the project is over 91% complete (excluding Pluto Train 1 modifications) with target first LNG cargo in H2 2026. [14]
Woodside’s Q3 report also reiterated Scarborough was 91% complete and on track for first LNG in the second half of 2026. [15]
On the project fundamentals, Woodside lists:
- 8 MTPA project capacity LNG (100% of project) [16]
- A ~430 km pipeline connecting offshore Scarborough facilities to Pluto Train 2 [17]
And in a December 2025 project story, Woodside said Scarborough has capacity to supply up to 225 terajoules per day of domestic gas into the Western Australia market. [18]
Woodside Louisiana LNG: scale, phasing, and why investors obsess over it
Woodside describes Louisiana LNG as an under-construction, sanctioned LNG terminal in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana, with:
- 27.6 MTPA permitted liquefaction capacity [19]
- Construction commencement listed as 2022 [20]
- Acquisition date listed as 9 October 2024 [21]
- Phase 1 FID achieved in April 2025, described as a three train 16.5 MTPA foundational phase [22]
Woodside also positions Louisiana LNG as central to its longer-range LNG identity—stating the development would help it deliver about 24 MTPA from its global LNG portfolio in the 2030s and operate over 5% of global LNG supply (as cited on its project page). [23]
Meanwhile, Woodside’s Q3 2025 report gave a project progress snapshot: Louisiana LNG (three trains) was 19% complete, with Train 1 25% complete, and “targeting first LNG in 2029.” [24]
A key December catalyst: US Energy Department grants Louisiana LNG more time
On 16 December 2025, the US Department of Energy said it signed an amendment order granting an additional 44 months for Woodside to commence LNG exports to non-FTA countries from the Woodside Louisiana LNG project. The DOE also stated that once fully constructed, the project could export up to 3.88 Bcf/d of natural gas as LNG. [25]
That DOE release also referenced:
- Louisiana LNG’s first-phase final investment decision earlier in 2025 [26]
- Offtake agreements with Germany’s Uniper and a relationship with Williams to market natural gas through the project [27]
For Woodside stockholders, regulatory runway matters because LNG project timelines are long, financing is staged, and missing authorisation windows can create costly delays.
The LNG market debate hanging over Woodside: “glut risk” vs long-cycle demand
Reuters’ analysis put “global LNG supply glut” squarely in the frame for Woodside’s incoming CEO, citing expectations of rising supply into the 2030s as more North American LNG capacity comes online and Qatar ramps up expansions—potentially pressuring LNG prices and project returns. [28]
The same Reuters piece also underscored how central Louisiana LNG is viewed in that context, quoting an analyst view that Louisiana LNG is the “key project” and highlighting construction risk. [29]
And it’s not just Woodside being forced to think about this. Another Reuters report this week noted Energy Transfer suspended development of its Lake Charles LNG export project in Louisiana amid rising costs and an LNG supply glut narrative—an example of how the sector is stress-testing the economics of new LNG builds. [30]
For Woodside investors, this is the crux: Scarborough is close enough to completion that execution risk is narrowing, but Louisiana LNG’s long runway exposes Woodside to future LNG pricing, cost inflation, and partner/offtaker negotiation dynamics. [31]
Woodside share price check (ASX and NYSE) and what analysts are forecasting
As of late 20 December 2025 (last reported trade in the tool feed), Woodside’s NYSE-listed shares were around US$14.90.
On the ASX, Stockopedia displayed Woodside around AU$22.80 (with market cap shown around AU$43.29bn). [32]
Analyst consensus: targets cluster in the high-20s AUD, but with a wide spread
Publicly visible consensus snapshots show analysts are not monolithic on Woodside—particularly given the project cycle and commodity sensitivity.
- Investing.com’s consensus page shows an overall “Buy” tilt (7 Buy, 8 Hold, 0 Sell in the prior three months poll) and an average 12‑month target of ~A$27.49 (about +20% upside from the reference price in that dataset), with a high estimate above A$44 and a low estimate around A$23. [33]
- Stockopedia lists an analyst consensus target price of AU$27.05, described as around 18.6% above the AU$22.80 close shown on its page at the time. [34]
Investing.com also lists examples of broker actions and targets in late 2025 (for example, CLSA targets in the low-30s AUD and JPMorgan targets in the mid‑20s AUD on shown dates), illustrating how the “average” hides meaningful dispersion. [35]
Dividend lens: yield remains part of the Woodside thesis—alongside volatility
Dividend expectations continue to feature heavily in Woodside’s equity story:
- Woodside’s CEO succession announcement referenced ~US$11bn in dividends paid since 2022. [36]
- Stockopedia displayed a trailing dividend yield around 7% on its page for WDS (trailing period). [37]
- Woodside’s investor page also highlighted an interim dividend figure for half-year 2025 results (53 US cents per share), underscoring how the company frames shareholder returns alongside project execution. [38]
Important reality check: in commodity-linked equities, dividend levels can move with realised prices, costs, and capex demands—so investors typically treat yield as backward-looking and focus on sustainability through the cycle. [39]
What matters next for Woodside Energy stock into early 2026
With December’s newsflow fresh, the next catalysts for Woodside shares are relatively clear:
1) Permanent CEO appointment (Q1 2026 expected).
Woodside has said it intends to announce a permanent CEO appointment in the first quarter of 2026. [40]
2) Project execution milestones—especially Scarborough’s final stretch.
Scarborough’s “over 91% complete” status keeps attention on delivery to first LNG in H2 2026. [41]
3) Louisiana LNG: partners, offtake, and schedule credibility.
The DOE’s 44‑month extension provides regulatory runway, but the market will still watch for commercial progress, cost discipline, and clarity on delivery cadence. [42]
4) Next scheduled reporting dates.
Woodside’s investor calendar lists the Fourth Quarter 2025 Report (28 Jan 2026) and the 2025 Annual Report (24 Feb 2026). [43]
Bottom line
As of 21 December 2025, Woodside Energy Group Ltd stock is being repriced around a simple but high-stakes narrative: a leadership handover at the exact moment Woodside must execute Scarborough into first LNG and prove Louisiana LNG can be built and contracted profitably in a market where oversupply risk is now a mainstream analyst talking point. [44]
Analyst targets generally imply upside from late‑December ASX levels, but the spread between bullish and cautious forecasts reflects real uncertainty—about LNG pricing power in the 2030s, construction cost inflation, and how effectively Woodside balances growth capex with shareholder returns. [45]
References
1. www.woodside.com, 2. www.reuters.com, 3. www.woodside.com, 4. www.woodside.com, 5. www.reuters.com, 6. www.reuters.com, 7. www.reuters.com, 8. www.woodside.com, 9. www.woodside.com, 10. www.woodside.com, 11. www.woodside.com, 12. www.woodside.com, 13. www.woodside.com, 14. www.woodside.com, 15. www.woodside.com, 16. www.woodside.com, 17. www.woodside.com, 18. www.woodside.com, 19. www.woodside.com, 20. www.woodside.com, 21. www.woodside.com, 22. www.woodside.com, 23. www.woodside.com, 24. www.woodside.com, 25. www.energy.gov, 26. www.energy.gov, 27. www.energy.gov, 28. www.reuters.com, 29. www.reuters.com, 30. www.reuters.com, 31. www.woodside.com, 32. www.stockopedia.com, 33. www.investing.com, 34. www.stockopedia.com, 35. www.investing.com, 36. www.woodside.com, 37. www.stockopedia.com, 38. www.woodside.com, 39. www.woodside.com, 40. www.woodside.com, 41. www.woodside.com, 42. www.energy.gov, 43. www.woodside.com, 44. www.woodside.com, 45. www.investing.com
