Sydney, Jan 10, 2026, 16:53 (AEDT) — Market closed
- Woodside shares ended the week higher as oil prices rebounded on supply-risk headlines.
- Australia’s energy sector outpaced a flat broader market session.
- Focus now turns to Woodside’s late-January quarterly update and the next moves in crude.
Woodside Energy Group Ltd WDS.AX closed up 2.8% on Friday at A$23.59, as firmer oil prices lifted energy stocks on the Australian market. The stock traded between A$23.28 and A$23.68; on the chart it has held above about A$22.80 this month and has struggled to clear A$24 — “support” is where buying tends to show up, “resistance” is where selling often caps a rise.
Oil did much of the work. Brent settled up $2.03, or 3.4%, at $61.99 a barrel on Thursday after two sessions of declines, as traders assessed fast-moving developments in Venezuela and fretted about supplies from Russia, Iraq and Iran. Ritterbusch and Associates wrote that crude benchmarks were “back to about levels of last Friday’s close” before the latest Venezuela shock. Reuters
The supply picture is messy, and that matters for oil-linked names like Woodside, which can swing on crude headlines even when there is no company news. OPEC pumped 28.40 million barrels per day (bpd) in December, down 100,000 bpd from November, a Reuters survey found, with Iran and Venezuela posting the biggest declines. Energy Aspects analyst Livia Gallarati forecast Venezuela’s crude and condensate output would slip to about 950,000 bpd this month from 1.1 million bpd in December.
Woodside is a global energy producer and marketer, with sales tied to liquefied natural gas and liquids, alongside domestic pipeline gas. That mix leaves earnings sensitive to benchmark prices and shipping conditions, which is why the oil tape can override local factors for a day or two.
Peer moves underscored the point. Santos, a local rival Woodside once chased in a takeover bid, rose 2.4% in the same session that energy stocks outperformed, while the broader market wobbled under a steep drop in miner Rio Tinto.
There is also some company-specific uncertainty in the background. Woodside’s board appointed Liz Westcott as acting chief executive in December after Meg O’Neill resigned and accepted the top job at BP.
But the oil-led bounce carries its own risk. U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Chevron sees a pathway to raise Venezuela production by about 50% within 18 to 24 months, if it gets the necessary permissions — a reminder that supply could return faster than the market prices in.
Next up for Woodside is its fourth-quarter 2025 report on Jan. 28, followed by its 2025 annual report on Feb. 24, according to the company’s investor calendar. Traders will be looking for production and sales volumes, realised pricing and any read-through on costs and project execution before the next dividend decisions come into view.
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