Shares of Australia's Woodside Energy were up nearly 4% on Wednesday after the gas producer posted first-quarter revenue above estimates.
Perth-based Woodside reported revenue of $3.32 billion for the quarter ended March 31, beating a Visible Alpha consensus estimate of $2.79 billion and up from the $2.95 billion reported a year ago.
The revenue boost came from the July 2024 start-up of its Senegal-based Sangomar project and strong gas hub-linked prices, Woodside said.
Shares of the company rose as much as 3.9% to A$20.470 as of 0036 GMT, while the broader energy sub-index .AXEJ gained 3.1%, tracking a rise in global oil prices.
Gas hub-linked prices, which Woodside benefited from, are determined by trading at specific natural gas hubs, differing from oil-linked prices that typically follow crude oil market trends.
"Investors were buoyed by the news that Woodside was able to generate solid numbers despite what were generally softer oil prices during the reporting period," said Tim Waterer, chief market analyst at KCM Trade Global.
Smaller rival Santos last week reported a 7% fall in quarterly sales revenue.
During the quarter, average realized prices came in at $65 per barrel of oil equivalent (boe), up 3% from a year ago.
Production rose to 49.1 million barrels of oil equivalent (MMboe) compared with 44.9 MMboe last year.
Woodside kept its 2025 production and capital expenditure forecast unchanged.
However, on a quarter-on-quarter basis, the energy firm reported a decline of 5% in revenue, largely due to a fall in oil-linked prices, coupled with cyclone impacts at its North West Shelf project and unplanned train outages at its Pluto LNG project.
"If energy prices come under further pressure as a result of tariff-related growth pressures, it could make things trickier for Woodside down the track," Waterer added.
In April, Woodside agreed to sell a 40% stake in its Louisiana LNG plant to U.S. infrastructure investor Stonepeak for $5.7 billion, a move aimed at reducing capital spending for the Australian firm.
Woodside added it was assessing the potential impacts of recent tariff announcements on its Louisiana LNG project.
(Reuters - Reporting by Roshan Thomas and Sneha Kumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona)
