* Woodside slashes asset values by $3.92 bln
* Takes $447 mln provision on Corpus Christi LNG
* Cites uncertain timing for developments, carbon risk
(Adds CEO, analyst, investor comments)
By Shashwat Awasthi and Sonali Paul
BANGALORE/MELBOURNE July 14 (Reuters) - Australia's Woodside
Petroleum Ltd plans to book impairments of $4.37
billion after tax, joining global energy majors that have
slashed the value of their assets after a coronavirus-induced
slump in oil and gas prices.
The bulk of the impairment - $3.92 billion - is tied to
cutting the value of oil and gas production and exploration
assets, amid "increased uncertainty" over the development timing
of gas fields off Australia and in Canada, the company said.
Nearly 80% of the impairments on its oil and gas properties
were driven by a weaker outlook for oil and gas prices to 2025,
but it also factored in longer term demand uncertainty and an
increased risk of higher carbon pricing.
Writedowns had been expected after global majors, such as BP
and Royal Dutch Shell announced huge impairments
on their assets.
However Woodside's writedowns are bigger than expected, some
analysts and investors said.
"Clearly in a lower oil price environment they're certainly
going to have to rejig a lot of projects," said Andy Foster, a
portfolio manager at Argo Investments.
Woodside Chief Executive Peter Coleman said the company
still aims to develop its Scarborough and Browse gas fields off
Western Australia, but would also eye acquisitions.
"Woodside's disciplined approach to financial management
gives us options to pursue inorganic growth opporutnities as and
when they emerge," he said in a statement.
Along with the writedowns, Woodside downgraded its estimated
reserves, now counting its Greater Pluto gas fields as
"contingent resources".
Those gas fields were isolated in deep water, making them
challenging to develop in a weak price environment, said
David Low, an analyst at consultants Wood Mackenzie.
The company, Australia's top independent gas producer, will
take a $447 million provision for an onerous liquefied natural
gas supply deal in Corpus Christi, Texas, where it has had to
pay a fee for cargoes not taken. Several Asian and European
buyers have cancelled cargoes from U.S. LNG plants.
Woodside will report its second-quarter production figures
on Wednesday and first-half 2020 earnings on Aug. 13.
(Reporting by Shashwat Awasthi in Bengaluru; editing by
Christian Schmollinger and Louise Heavens)
