Woodside Energy to cut at least 10% of workforce, targets $400M in cost savings

Australia's Woodside Energy (WDS) said Thursday it expects to cut more ​than 500 jobs, or at least 10% ​of its global workforce of 4,693 ⁠employees at year-end 2025, and ‌raised its annual cost savings target by US$50M to US$400M.

Woodside (WDS) also said it is now targeting a return on average capital employed of 12%-15% across its portfolio by the mid-2030s, supported by ​a new capital framework and ​shareholder ⁠distribution policy, as it now aims to return 20%-40% of adjusted operating cash flows to shareholders.

"We will prioritize 20% of adjusted operating cash flow as a base dividend, with up to another 20% available for additional dividends and/or buybacks," CEO Liz Westcott said at the company's Capital Markets Day in Sydney.

The company's previous policy aimed to return at least 50% of underlying net profit as dividends, with a 50%-80% target payout ratio.

Woodside (WDS) is moving forward on several major projects, led by the Scarborough natural gas project in Australia, which is 99% complete and on track for its first cargo of liquefied natural gas before year-end 2026, and its medium-term project pipeline includes the Louisiana LNG project in the U.S. and Trion in the Gulf of Mexico.

"Together with our base business, these projects are expected to support sales volume growth of more than 30% to ~280M barrels of oil equivalent in 2032, and generate more than US$40B of adjusted operating cash flow from 2027 to 2032," Westcott said.

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