The Woodside Energy Group Ltd (ASX: WDS) share price had another strong month in October, adding to a strong year for the ASX oil share.
While Woodside can't control certain factors, like what happens with energy prices or what goes on in Europe, it can do its best to boost its production and sell as much as it can at the high energy price that we're seeing at the moment.
It may have been the company's quarterly update that helped the Woodside share price deliver a return of 13.6% compared to the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) which only rose by 6%.
Let's take a look at what the business reported for the three months to 30 September 2022.
Woodside's quarterly update
This was the first full quarter that the business had reported that included the earnings of the BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP) petroleum business. Due to the size of that business, it had a pleasing effect of boosting the performance of Woodside.
Woodside reported that its sales revenue was up by 70% from the second quarter of 2022 to US$5.9 billion. Sales volume was up 59% from the second quarter to 57.1 million barrels of oil equivalent (MMboe). Production was up 52% from the second quarter to 51.2 MMboe.
The business said that it achieved a portfolio average realised price of US$102 per barrel of oil equivalent.
Based on its strong performance, it decided to increase its 2022 production guidance from 153 MMboe to 157 MMboe. This was an increase from the prior guidance of between 145 MMboe to 153 MMboe. Producing more during these times of high energy prices could be helpful for the Woodside share price.
It also told investors about the progress that it is making on its major projects.
It has commenced fabrication of subsea flowlines for the Scarborough and Pluto train 2 projects in Western Australia, which combined are now 21% complete.
Woodside also said that it has commenced the subsea installation campaign for the Sangomar field development offshore Senegal, which is now 70% complete.
However, the business did also announce a reduction in capital expenditure. It was previously expecting that in 2022 it would spend between US$4.3 billion to US$4.8 billion on capital expenditure. But now, it's expecting to spend between US$4 billion to US$4.3 billion.
It also said that it was increasing its exploration expenditure from a range of US$400 million to US$500 million, to a range of US$500 million to US$600 million.
CEO comments
The Woodside CEO Meg O'Neill commented on the green progress that the business is making:
We announced plans for the Hydrogen Refueller @H2Perth, a self-contained hydrogen production, storage and refuelling station, which would assist in stimulating the hydrogen economy in Western Australia.
We also awarded a contract in October for electrolysers for the proposed H2OK hydrogen project, a significant milestone towards our targeted final investment decision in 2023. Front-end engineering design activities for H2OK are well advanced.
Woodside share price snapshot
While we're only two days into November, I think it's worth pointing out that the Woodside share price has risen by another 3.5% since the start of the month.
