The Woodside Energy Group Ltd (ASX: WDS) share price shifted into reverse in 2024.
Shares in the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) energy stock closed out 2023 trading for $31.06. When the closing bell rang on 31 December 2024, those same shares were changing hands for $24.60 apiece.
This put the Woodside share price down a precipitous 20.8% over the calendar year. A year that saw the ASX 200 gain 7.5%.
Now, that's not including the $1.94 in fully franked dividends Woodside delivered to stockholders over 2024. But even adding those back in, the stock lost 14.6% over the calendar year.
Here's what put the ASX 200 energy stock under pressure.
Image source: Getty Images
Why did the Woodside share price tumble in 2024?
Much of the pressure on the Woodside share price came amid tepid energy prices over the year.
Global benchmark Brent crude oil, for example, kicked off 2024 at US$77 per barrel before hitting highs of US$91 per barrel in early April. With oil prices looking strong, on 5 April, Woodside stock was trading for $30.60 a share.
But as the oil price then slid to end 2024 at US$75 per barrel, investors began to factor in lower profits and declining dividends and bid down the Woodside share price.
Indeed, when the company reported its half-year results on 27 August (covering the six months to 30 June), investors learned that half-year operating revenue was down 19% year over year to US$5.99 billion.
And while underlying net profit after tax (NPAT) still came in at a very tidy US$1.63 billion, this was down 13.9% from H1 FY 2023. This led management to cut Woodside's interim dividend by 14% to 69 US cents per share.
The company reported production of 89.3 MMboe for the half with a unit production cost of US$8.30 per barrel of oil, down 5.7% from the prior corresponding half.
In Q3, covering the three months ended 30 September, Woodside reported a record quarterly production of 53.1 MMboe. Woodside's full-year FY 2024 production guidance is in the range of 185 MMboe and 195 MMboe. The Woodside share price edged up 0.6% on the day it was reported.
Contributing to that figure, 2024 saw Woodside produce its first oil from its offshore Sangomar project in Senegal.
Commenting on that milestone at the time, Woodside CEO Meg O'Neill said:
Production ramp-up at Sangomar has progressed well and subsequent to the period, peak gross production rate of 100,000 barrels per day was achieved, demonstrating Woodside's world-class project execution capability.
Sangomar will deliver enduring value for Woodside shareholders and benefits for our partner Petrosen and the people of Senegal.
Woodside also continued to progress in 2024 with its major growth projects, including the Scarborough LNG project, located in Western Australia.
As for the nascent new year, the Woodside share price is up 2.3% in 2025, with shares currently trading for $25.17 apiece.
