Carlyle chief’s Perth visit fuels Woodside rumours

Woodside Energy’s Macedon Gas Treatment Plant. Picture: Woodside Energy

There’s been numerous sightings of one the top energy big wigs at The Carlyle Group in Perth in recent weeks, further fuelling speculation the group is likely to emerge as the buyer of Woodside Energy’s Macedon and Pyrenees oil and gas assets.

London-based Bob Maguire, managing director and co-head of Carlyle International Energy Partners, has been focused on further developing and growing Carlyle’s international energy platform and the understanding is he sees Australia as one of the markets to carry this out.

Yet, it’s still unclear whether Woodside pulls the trigger on a transaction.

The talk in the market is Carlyle is the lead bidder, with Jadestone Energy remaining in the race.

But, the understanding is Jadestone does not have the same financial firepower as Carlyle.

Plus, Woodside wants $US700m for the assets, and Carlyle’s offer is below this number.

If a sale does occur, it’s now looking more likely that both assets will be divested, after earlier suggestions any suitor would only want Macedon, given the remediation liabilities attached to the Pyrenees assets.

Woodside now has a plan to accommodate remediation costs for Pyrenees, where the buyer would pay funds into a pool to pay for the liabilities over time, to be underwritten by Woodside, say sources.

Woodside last year hired Morgan Stanley to sell Macedon and Pyrenees, a mature oil and gas field with 24 wells with rehabilitation costs of about $1bn.

Woodside has always indicated it is keen on acquisition opportunities offshore, such as the Gulf of Mexico.

But the thinking now is it is dialling down the rhetoric around mergers and acquisitions following its recent takeover talks with Santos and will focus on operations until the right deal presents itself.

Market experts say Woodside has plenty of free cashflow from its assets to take it through from 2025 to 2028 before it needs to assess new opportunities.

Last year Carlyle sold its Gabon-based oil and gas business Assala Energy for a reported $US730m, and in 2022 it was reportedly weighing a multibillion-dollar bid for a major stake in Austrian energy company OMV’s oil and gas portfolio.

Woodside inherited Macedon and Pyrenees in WA’s Carnarvon Basin through its acquisition of BHP’s petroleum business in 2022.

Woodside has a 71.4 per cent interest in the Macedon field and a 62 per cent holding in Pyrenees, which it operates.

The other owner is Santos, which has pre-emptive rights.

The assets will sustain production into the mid-2030s, although Woodside took a $US68m writedown on Pyrenees in its results last year.