Business Description:
Woodside Petroleum Limited (WPL) is the operator of oil and gas production in Australia. WPL has operations encompassing the production of liquefied natural gas, domestic gas, condensate, crude oil and liquefied petroleum gas. WPL has six business units including international, Australia, North West Shelf, Pluto, Browse and Sunrise. Currently, the production is obtained from North West Shelf and Australia Oil (Enfield, Vincent and Stybarrow).

Strategy Analysis:
WPL explores, develops, produces and markets gas and oil from Australia and the Americas to customers across the globe. The company is committed to returning top-quartile and sustainable growth in shareholders' wealth, paying dividends and balancing growth through strategic focus in key regions of the world. Woodside Petroleum reported NPAT down 8.1% to US$828m for the half-year ended 30 June 2011, largely due to the first-half being positively impacted by a gain on the sale of the Company's Otway assets and a lower income tax expense. Revenues from ordinary activities were $2.25bn, up 7.2% from the same period last year, largely due to higher commodity prices. Diluted EPS was 105 cents compared to 117 cents last year. Net operating cash flow was $1.39bn compared to $1.01bn last year. The interim dividend declared was 55 cents compared with 50 cents last year. Looking ahead, production volumes are expected to increase strongly following first Pluto LNG cargoes, which are now estimated to commence in March 2012.