The Woodside Petroleum Limited (ASX: WPL) share price is in the red in late morning trade, down 1.6% to $22.61 per share.
This comes as the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is marching higher, up 0.5% at the time of writing. And Woodside's share price doesn't look to be getting much reprieve from its oil and gas reserve update, released this morning.
What reserve update was reported?
The company's announcement that the 1P total reserves and resource estimates across the Greater Pluto region have increased hasn't boosted the Woodside share price this morning.
According to the release, the 1P total reserves at Pluto, located offshore in Western Australia, increased by approximately 10% following a just-completed review. 1P refers to proven reserves.
Investors may be focused on the 2P total reserves, which include both proven and probable reserves. Following the review, the 2P total reserves decreased by approximately 10%.
Woodside's CEO Meg O'Neill said:
The 4D seismic survey undertaken in 2020, together with the performance of the wells in these fields, has enabled us to narrow the 1P and 2P reserves range.
The Greater Pluto region is a significant and valuable resource for Woodside. Having already produced more than 440 million barrels of oil equivalent from the Pluto and Xena reserves since start-up in 2012, the Greater Pluto region has 2P total reserves of approximately 360 million barrels of oil equivalent for production in the years ahead.
The Woodside share price, along with the other ASX 200 energy shares, has also come under some pressure this week as oil prices edged lower.
Following a strong run higher, which saw Brent crude still trading for US$84.71 per barrel on Monday, Brent is currently trading at US$80.54.
The 5%, 5-day drop in the benchmark oil price has seen the Woodside share price fall 2.7% since Monday.
Woodside share price snapshot
Despite this week's retrace, the Woodside share price remains up 23% over the past 12 months. That just beats the 22% gains posted by the ASX 200 in that same time.
Over the past month, Woodside shares are down 10%.
