Woodside CEO Meg O’Neill: Why a better gas policy framework is essential

Meg O’Neill says Australian jobs, investment and energy security need a policy framework for gas that is not vulnerable to activist manipulation.

Woodside Energy CEO Meg O'Neill

CEO SURVEY 2025: FULL COVERAGE

Economy

How would you rate the momentum of the Australian economy as we head into 2025? Official forecasts have Australia trimming interest rates from the first half of calendar 2025, is that consistent with your view? What are you seeing around inflation in your own business?

The Australian economy has all the core ingredients to gain momentum in 2025 and beyond but we need the right policy settings to enable that momentum to take hold, and stick. Putting in place the right policies to encourage productivity and investment is critical to long-term management of inflation risk.

This includes measures that encourage investment in new energy supplies to help drive down power prices. It means providing stable and certain fiscal policy that encourages investment and doesn’t discriminate, for example, between different energy technologies. And it means delivering an efficient regulatory approvals environment for all investments that support growth – including in new gas supplies – but more broadly across the economy.

At Woodside, we never take our eye off the ball when it comes to cost management, even though most of our global supply chains are complex and subject to influences we can’t control. We stay focused on the things we can control, and succeeded in reducing our unit production cost by 6 per cent in the first half of 2024. That was a great result in a time of inflationary pressure, and we intend to maintain our disciplined approach going forward.

Outlook

What excites you heading into 2025? Are you likely to increase, hold steady, or trim your investment spend?

Woodside is looking forward to a big year in 2025 working on the projects that will underpin our future profitable growth, returns to shareholders and support for our communities.

Our Scarborough Energy Project in Western Australia is now three quarters complete and on track for targeted first LNG cargo in 2026.

We’ve kicked off the multi-year construction of the floating production unit for the Trion project offshore Mexico. The facility is the critical path for the development as we progress towards targeted first oil in 2028.

In the US, we are moving at pace towards our target to be ready for a final investment decision on our Louisiana LNG facility in the first quarter of next year. Louisiana LNG is fully permitted for up to 27.6 million tonnes per annum and, with pricing and schedule certainty locked in with contractor Bechtel, is competitively advantaged in the current uncertain market environment for competing projects.

We are also targeting first production in 2025 from our recently acquired Beaumont Clean Ammonia facility in Texas.

Reform

As we move into an election year, in your mind, what’s the single biggest lever that can/should be used to lift Australia’s competitiveness or productivity? This could be across any area from labour market, tax reform, training or other areas to encourage investment.

If Australia is to reach its economic potential, we need a national conversation on reform options that can unlock productivity, drive competitiveness, and allow Australia to thrive in an uncertain world.

We need policies that encourage investment across the economy and enable Australia to take advantage of its tremendous natural resource endowment. In energy, for example, investment in new gas supplies can help support the emergence of a world-class critical minerals processing industry in Western Australia as well as supporting energy needs in Asia. And we know that on both coasts Australia needs more gas for household and business use in order to provide the stable and consistent energy supplies that underpin the economy and our quality of life.

All businesses, whether in the energy sector or elsewhere, need certainty and stability in fiscal policy and regulatory settings in order to invest with confidence. Unfortunately, outdated regulation is being exploited by activists using lawfare to slow or stop new investment in Australia.

If we are serious about protecting Australian jobs, encouraging investment and ensuring our energy security, we need a policy framework for gas and other sectors that provides timely consideration of proposals, stable tax and fiscal settings and is not vulnerable to manipulation by activist groups.

Geopolitics

Will a Donald Trump presidency have a potential impact on your business or sector (tariffs or streamlined regulation)? Does geopolitics drive a bigger part of your decision-making?

The energy industry has always operated in a geopolitically uncertain world. In fact, energy exports are often a key feature in providing for trade between nations and in contributing to regional stability and relationships. So we are used to the uncertainty of geopolitics in how we think about and plan our business.

In relation to the US, Woodside’s confidence to invest is demonstrated by our two significant recent acquisitions – Louisiana LNG and the Beaumont Clean Ammonia Project. Louisiana LNG is fully permitted, so should the pause on US LNG developments be lifted, it would have a competitive advantage over other projects still needing environmental and other approvals.

People

Has your organisation’s approach to flexible working – including working from home – evolved during the year. Is this likely to change further into 2025?

With the exception of site-based employees, who don’t have the option of working from home, we’ve settled this year on employees spending at least 60 per cent of their time in the office. This model seems to be striking a good balance which allows people to work flexibly, while benefiting from the collaboration and innovation that comes from face-to-face interaction.

Technology

Where is your organisation along the AI journey – is it in the developmental stage, or are you now using the technology at scale across your business? If so, are benefits matching the promise?

The energy industry has always been, at heart, a technology industry. We deploy technology across the range of our activities from exploration to development and supply of critical energy to meet customer needs in Australia and internationally. Technology features in every step of this chain and AI can unlock new opportunities for us.

We are actively designing and deploying AI across multiple parts of our complex and geographically diverse business with great success.

Woodside views AI as a valuable technology that can support the way we work by keeping our people safe, maintaining operational reliability and enabling our workforce.