Woodside Petroleum

Woodside was incorporated on 26 July 1954. It was originally named Woodside (Lakes Entrance) Oil Co NL and it was named after the small town of Woodside, Victoria.[4] Woodside's early years were focussed on Victoria's Gippsland Basin. Switching to northern Western Australia in the early 1960s, Woodside joined up with Shell and Burmah Oil to form the original North West Shelf consortium. BHP later replaced Burmah, and with Shell, each became a 40% shareholder in Woodside. In the early 1990s both BHP and Shell agreed to sell down to 34% stakes each, before BHP sold out completely (for an average price of $3 per share, completing the sale in October 1994).

In 2001 Shell sought to buy out the remaining portion of the company that it did not already own at the time; however, the takeover move was blocked by the Treasurer of Australia at the time, Peter Costello, on national interest grounds.[5] On 9 November 2010, Shell sold approximately one third of its 34% stake to institutional investors at a share price of A$42.23, reducing its overall stake in Woodside to 24%.[6] On 17 June 2014, Shell announced it would reduce its remaining 23.1% stake to 4.5% through a sale on the market to institutional investors, and a buy-back by Woodside, to which the company had agreed. The following day Shell sold 9.5% to institutions. An extraordinary meeting of Woodside shareholders to approve the buyback on 1 August 2014, however, failed to achieve a majority 75% vote, falling short at 72%. Shell announced it was reviewing its options.[7] Currently, Shell Australia is one of six equal investors in the NWS project and holds a 16.67% equity stake.[8] The other investors are BP, BHP Billiton Petroleum, Chevron, Mitsubishi/Mitsui.[9]

On 30 May 2011 Peter Coleman succeeded Don Voelte as the company's Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director.[10]

Woodside has exploration, development and operating activities in Australia and a number of international regions including Canada, United States, Senegal, South Korea, New Zealand, Myanmar, Cameroon, Gabon, Morocco and Ireland. Within Australia Woodside operates or is developing a number of liquefied natural gas projects. The company also operates the Enfield and Vincent oil fields offshore from Exmouth in Western Australia.[11]

In February 2006, the Mauritanian government led by Ely Ould Mohamed Vall denounced amendments to an oil contract made by former authoritarian leader Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya with Woodside Petroleum. In 2004, Woodside had agreed to invest US$600 million in developing Mauritania's Chinguetti offshore oil project. The controversial amendments, which Mauritanian authorities declared had been signed "outside the legal framework of normal practice, to the great detriment of our country", could cost Mauritania up to $200 million a year, according to BBC News.[15][16] The Australian Federal Police in June 2006 were investigating Woodside for allegations of bribery and corruption in Mauritania according to The Sydney Morning Herald.[17][18] The AFP officially cleared the company of any wrongdoing in May 2008.

In 2006–2007, as part of the Pluto LNG project, Woodside faced opposition over plans to build an onshore processing plant on the Burrup Peninsula in Western Australia, as the site is home to significant petroglyphs up to 30,000 years old.[19]

It has been suggested that intense lobbying by Woodside Petroleum contributed to the coalition Howard government's initial decision against emissions trading in August 2000.[20] The company also opposed the Rudd Labor government's Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme in 2009.[21]

Woodside is among six companies accused of making deceptive public statements in an attempt to get free carbon permits. The Australian Conservation Foundation says the companies exaggerated in public, but told a different story to their shareholders and investors. In June 2009, the ACF lodged an official complaint[22] with the Federal consumer affairs watchdog asking that the matter be investigated.[23] The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission took no action against the companies.[24]

In April 2011 Australia's Fair Work Ombudsman began an investigation into claims that foreign workers were underpaid on two North West Shelf oil rigs operated by Woodside Petroleum.[25] In April 2013, the Federal Court in WA heard allegations that the workers were paid less than $3 an hour to work on the oil rigs. Documents tendered to the court claimed that the four men worked as painters on Woodside rigs on the North West Shelf off northern WA from July 2009 until early 2011.[26]

In the corporation's annual offshore performance report, published in mid-2013, the failure of an oil mist detector at Woodside Petroleum's Vincent oilfield in Western Australia was caused by faulty wiring and inadequately designed equipment. The issue was identified during a visit by a third party at Woodside's largest single source of oil production.[27]

• Official website