Perth-headquartered Woodside has cut $US5 billion ($A7 billion) of its new energy investment targets and will review its Beaumont New Ammonia project.Â
The company has decided to scrap its so-called scope three investment and emissions abatement targets due to being established in a different market, chief executive Liz Westcott said on Tuesday.
"The reality is that markets for emerging lower carbon opportunities, including hydrogen, ammonia, and carbon capture and storage, have developed more slowly than anticipated," she told analysts at an earnings briefing.
"Therefore, the targets no longer align with evolving technology, current policy settings, and customer demand."
Despite the about-face, Woodside has achieved its 2025 scope one and two targets and is on track to reach its 30 per cent emissions reduction from baseline by 2030.
But abandoning its energy investment targets flies in the face of shareholder demands, while Woodside's climate targets amount to little more than window dressing, according to activist group Market Forces.
"Woodside has ditched its already feeble scope three emissions reduction and new energy investment targets, despite years of investor pressure demanding stronger climate action," investor campaigns manager Brett Morgan said.
"Major super funds including AustralianSuper and Aware Super are failing to hold Woodside accountable for expanding oil and gas production, at the expense of a stable economy and secure retirement for their millions of members."
Ms Westcott said cost discipline required that the company have "balanced and achievable" climate targets, adding that it remained interested in new energy opportunities.
Meanwhile, Woodside's underlying net profit - which removes one-off accounting items to indicate actual performance - rose to $US1.33 billion ($A1.85 billion) in the six months to June 30, up seven per cent on the equivalent 2025 period.
Supporting the first-half result was a 20 per cent higher average realised price per barrel of oil equivalent of $US74, on the back of energy supply disruptions caused by the US-Iran conflict.
Operating revenue was up 13 per cent on the equivalent 2025 half to $US7.45 billion ($A10.4 billion), despite total production volumes falling 13 per cent to 86.5 million barrels of oil equivalent, mainly due to cyclone impacts.
The result was broadly in line with expectations," RBC Capital Markets analyst Gordon Ramsay said.
"The quality of the result is supported by strong operational reliability across key LNG assets and Sangomar, disciplined capital management, and continued progress on major growth projects," Mr Ramsay said.
Shares in Woodside, which handed down a 57 US cent interim dividend, were down one per cent to $33.08 in afternoon trading.
The stock is still up by more than 24 per cent from a year earlier.
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