Woodside Energy (ASX: WDS, NYSE: WDS) finished Friday near-flat in Australia and lower in the U.S. Here’s the latest news, analyst forecasts, and the weekend setup.
Woodside Energy Group Ltd (ASX: WDS; NYSE: WDS) ended the Friday, December 12, 2025 session with a “steady but cautious” tape: the Australian listing closed essentially flat, while the U.S.-listed ADR finished lower—before showing a small bounce in after-hours trading.
That split matters because Woodside sits at the crossroads of two things markets have been obsessing over this week: (1) soft oil pricing and oversupply talk, and (2) the long game around LNG growth projects (and the execution / regulatory risks that come with them).
One calendar wrinkle: December 13, 2025 is a Saturday, so neither the ASX nor the NYSE is scheduled to open. Practically, “before the open” means preparing for the next trading session (Monday, Dec. 15) while watching weekend commodity moves and any late-breaking company or geopolitical headlines.
WDS price recap after the bell: where Woodside finished on Dec. 12
ASX: WDS (Australia)
Woodside shares on the ASX closed Friday at A$24.73, down A$0.02 (-0.08%) versus the prior close. The session range was A$24.30 to A$24.79, with volume around 4.02 million shares. [1]
A useful nuance: while the day finished slightly red versus Thursday’s close, it closed well above the open (A$24.47)—a sign buyers stepped in intraday even if the final print looked flat. [2]
NYSE: WDS (ADR, United States)
In the U.S., Woodside’s ADR ended Friday at $16.22, down $0.16 (-0.98%), with a range of $16.20 to $16.46 and volume near 452k shares. [3]
After-hours (U.S.)
After the closing bell, MarketWatch showed Woodside’s ADR trading higher in after-hours at $16.49 (+1.66%) at the time of its update (with light volume). [4]
After-hours moves can be noisy—thin liquidity, wider spreads, and headline-driven pops—but they can also hint at how positioning may reset heading into Monday.
The big driver in the background: oil stayed weak (and that matters for Woodside)
Even when there’s no major company-specific announcement, Woodside often trades like a “macro instrument” tied to oil and LNG pricing plus overall risk sentiment.
On Dec. 12, Reuters-linked market reporting highlighted Brent around the low $60s with ongoing worries about oversupply limiting bullish conviction. [5] In parallel, widely followed commodity trackers also showed WTI around the upper-$50s on the date. [6]
For Woodside investors, the reason this matters is straightforward: weaker crude (and softer gas/LNG benchmarks) generally compress expected cash flows and can pressure high-yield energy names—especially when the market is already debating whether 2026 could bring a surplus.
LNG pricing check: Asia LNG benchmarks are still in play
Woodside is not “just an oil stock.” It’s a major LNG player, and LNG pricing—especially into Asia—remains a core part of the bull case.
One relevant reference point is the Japan/Korea Marker (JKM). Historical futures data showed JKM around 10.700 on Dec. 12, 2025 (per Investing.com’s historical table). [7]
You don’t need to be an LNG trader to care: when LNG pricing trends higher, Woodside’s medium-term revenue expectations often look better; when it slides, the market tends to get stingier with valuation multiples.
“All current news, forecasts and analyses” dated Dec. 12: what investors were reading
There wasn’t a single dominant Woodside headline that hit like an earnings release on Dec. 12. Instead, coverage clustered around valuation and risk framing, plus investors cross-checking Woodside’s project pipeline against commodity weakness.
1) Valuation narrative: “pullback” + “undervalued” framing
A Simply Wall St–syndicated analysis circulating on Dec. 12 pointed to Woodside closing at A$24.73 versus a “narrative fair value” near A$27.90, framing the stock as ~11% undervalued in that model. [8]
Whether you agree with the methodology or not, it tells you what kind of positioning was in the air: buyers sniffing for value after a recent slide.
2) Analyst price targets: consensus says modest upside, but dispersion is wide
Simply Wall St’s compiled analyst table (as displayed on Dec. 12) showed:
- Current price: A$24.73
- Average 12‑month target:A$27.42 (about +10.87%)
- High/low target range:A$44.20 high vs A$23.02 low
- Number of analysts in the table:15 [9]
That wide high/low range is the market’s way of admitting: Woodside’s outcome distribution is fat-tailed. If execution goes smoothly and commodities cooperate, upside narratives proliferate. If approvals, costs, or LNG pricing disappoint, downside cases show up fast.
On the U.S. side, MarketWatch’s snapshot indicated an average target of $17.60 with an “Overweight” consensus (as displayed), reinforcing the idea of single-digit-to-low-double-digit upside expectations rather than “moonshot” projections. [10]
3) Forecasts that matter most for WDS: production guidance and project execution
While not newly issued on Dec. 12, investors were still trading the implications of Woodside’s guidance revisions and project timelines.
An Investing.com report on Woodside’s 2025 outlook noted the company planned 2025 production of 192–197 million boe, up from prior guidance, and also reduced its unit production cost outlook (excluding Louisiana LNG). [11]
These operational forecasts matter because Woodside’s valuation is heavily tethered to volumes, unit costs, and capex discipline—especially with multiple mega-projects in the pipeline.
The Woodside-specific risk headlines that remained “live” into the Dec. 12 close
Even if they weren’t dated exactly Dec. 12, these were still active drivers investors were weighing as the week ended—meaning they’re part of what you should have in mind heading into the next open.
Labor and schedule risk: Pluto LNG 2 industrial action threat
Reuters reporting earlier in December said Australian union members overwhelmingly backed strike action tied to Pluto LNG 2, with unions seeking pay increases and warning that work could be slowed. The report also reiterated Woodside’s plan to ship first cargo from Pluto 2 in the second half of 2026. [12]
Why this matters before Monday’s open: schedule slippage on growth assets can quickly become a valuation problem—particularly when investors are already sensitive to capex and execution risk.
Regulatory / ESG pressure: Murujuga and “licence to operate”
A Simply Wall St piece dated Dec. 11 highlighted Woodside’s Sustainability Focus Session and the implications of the Murujuga Cultural Landscape’s UNESCO World Heritage Listing, framing it as an added dimension to how investors assess long-term approvals and project execution risk. [13]
Woodside also published an ASX-dated announcement on the Sustainability Focus Session (Dec. 8, 2025), emphasizing the investor briefing focus on Murujuga and related priorities. [14]
This isn’t just “ESG noise.” For Woodside, approvals and stakeholder risk can translate into timelines, costs, and constraints—the exact variables that move discounted cash flow models.
Offshore exploration optionality: Gulf of Mexico lease auction
Reuters coverage of a U.S. Gulf of Mexico lease sale noted Woodside among companies with major bid totals (with Woodside around $38 million in high bid totals per the report). [15]
This isn’t an immediate earnings driver, but it signals Woodside continuing to pursue a diversified upstream portfolio—something that can either be seen as smart optionality or as yet another capital allocation debate, depending on your view.
The next major dates to keep on your radar
If you’re planning around catalysts, Woodside’s own investor calendar listed:
- 28 Jan 2026: Fourth Quarter 2025 Report
- 24 Feb 2026: 2025 Annual Report [16]
Those are not “this weekend” catalysts, but they shape how investors think about position sizing and patience. Between now and late January, price action tends to be more commodity- and headline-driven.
What to watch before the next market open
Since Dec. 13 is Saturday, this is really your weekend checklist going into Monday’s session.
1) Oil direction: can Brent hold the low $60s?
Woodside tends to track the commodity tape. If oil weakens further on renewed oversupply headlines, energy equities often open under pressure. Reuters reporting on Dec. 12 underscored that oil was still being weighed down by oversupply concerns even as traders watched demand/surplus forecasts. [17]
2) LNG benchmarks: any sharp move in JKM
JKM data showed prices around the 10.7 area on Dec. 12. [18]
A weekend swing isn’t guaranteed, but any major shift in LNG sentiment (weather, outages, shipping constraints, geopolitics) can feed into Monday’s tone for LNG-exposed names.
3) Headlines on Pluto LNG 2 labor action
Anything that escalates strike risk—or signals resolution—can influence near-term sentiment because it maps directly to project timing risk. [19]
4) Valuation debate: “cheap yield” vs “execution risk”
Analyst consensus (as compiled) implied ~11% upside on ASX targets, but with a very wide target dispersion. [20]
That’s basically the market saying: “This is value… but it’s not a free lunch.”
5) Dual listing dynamics: ADR vs ASX
Woodside’s ADR closed lower Friday, and after-hours trade showed a bounce. [21]
If U.S. energy sentiment shifts on Monday premarket (oil futures, U.S. dollar moves, macro risk-on/risk-off), the ADR can foreshadow what local ASX pricing might do when Sydney opens.
Bottom line
After the bell on Dec. 12, 2025, Woodside ended the week in a familiar spot: a high-dividend, LNG-levered energy major trading in the shadow of soft oil, while investors continuously re-price the probability that big growth projects land on time and on budget.
The weekend setup is less about a single Woodside headline and more about commodity drift + project risk headlines. With analysts (as compiled) pointing to modest upside but acknowledging big disagreement on fair value, Monday’s first move is likely to be driven by whether crude stabilizes—or slides again.
References
1. stockanalysis.com, 2. www.intelligentinvestor.com.au, 3. stockanalysis.com, 4. www.marketwatch.com, 5. www.reuters.com, 6. tradingeconomics.com, 7. www.investing.com, 8. finance.yahoo.com, 9. simplywall.st, 10. www.marketwatch.com, 11. www.investing.com, 12. www.reuters.com, 13. simplywall.st, 14. www.woodside.com, 15. www.reuters.com, 16. www.woodside.com, 17. www.reuters.com, 18. www.investing.com, 19. www.reuters.com, 20. simplywall.st, 21. stockanalysis.com
