The Woodside Petroleum Ltd (ASX: WPL) share price pushed slightly higher today despite the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) falling.
On Wednesday's market close, the energy company's shares finished at $22.38, up 0.22%. In comparison, the benchmark index dropped 0.68% to 7,369.6 points.
Woodside confident on LNG demand
As the world moves away from fossil fuels towards cleaner and renewable energy, the spotlight has been on the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow.
Bringing together world governments to pledge on cutting carbon emissions, the summit has seen a raft of countries and companies set targets to reach net zero over the next few decades.
And while demand is expected to wane for carbon-emitting pollutants, Woodside is confident that liquefied natural gas (LNG) will stay. This is particularly for energy-hungry countries in North Asia that are using natural gas to supersede coal.
To put this into perspective, both Japan and South Korea spent almost $19 billion on Australian LNG last year.
Technologies such as green hydrogen are looking at ways to blend LNG for power generation at an affordable cost. For the time being, the supply chain for the green hydrogen industry is still being established.
Woodside argued that using green hydrogen to replace gas exports would take a significant amount of time and money. This would require companies building large-scale wind and solar farms across the country to create carbon-free hydrogen.
In fact, Woodside is so confident that it's moving ahead with its $16 billion Scarborough LNG project in Western Australia.
Nonetheless, the company is also developing its own plans for green hydrogen, most recently, securing land for its proposed H2TAS hydrogen plant in Tasmania.
While Woodside is spreading its tentacles, the Scarborough project is facing a backlash from environmental groups who are trying to overturn government approvals. Protestors claim that the Scarborough project has not been properly assessed in terms of the new field's emissions.
First gas production for the Scarborough project is targeted for 2026 and is expected to produce 8 million tonnes annually. The gas field will be connected through a 430-kilometre pipeline to the onshore Pluto gas plant for processing.
Woodside share price summary
The Woodside share price is up around 5% over the last 12 months, but down 1% year-to-date. The company's shares took a dive to $14.93 when COVID-19 put the global economy at a standstill. Since then, its shares have traded sideways around the low $20 mark.
Based on the current share price, Woodside has a market capitalisation of roughly $21.78 billion.
