The $17.5 billion asset has an expansion capacity up to 27.6 Mtpa, and is set to position Woodside as a global LNG powerhouse, delivering around 24 Mtpa from its portfolio in the 2030s—representing over 5% of global LNG supply.

The company expects the project to book around $2 billion in revenue at full capacity, contributing $8 billion to coffers over the next decade.

The investment has an internal rate of return above 13% and am expected payback period of seven years.

Stonepeak will invest $5.7 billion toward the project, accelerating funding through 2025 and 2026, while Woodside’s share of total capital expenditure is estimated at $11.8 billion.

Woodside emphasised that its greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets remain unchanged following the decision.

CEO Meg O’Neill says Louisiana LNG is a “game-changer” that bolsters Woodside’s portfolio by adding US low-cost gas assets to its Australian base, offering marketing opportunities across the Pacific and Atlantic basins.

The project, the largest single foreign direct investment in Louisiana’s history, is anticipated to support around 15,000 jobs during construction and highlights the project as the first greenfield US LNG project final investment decision since July 2023.

Woodside has been trading at $20.40 at the time of writing.

Join the discussion: See what HotCopper users are saying about Woodside and be part of the conversations that move the markets.

Capitol told investors that its underlying NPAT (net profit after tax) for the 2024 fiscal year had increased by a quarter of a percent (25%) to $11 million compared to the previous year, while revenue had also grown for the same period, by 12% to $238 million.

In a year when Capitol had announced a proposed merger with Integral Diagnostics Limited (ASX:IDX) and opened new MRI comprehensive clinic at Sunshine Private Hospital in Victoria, the company said its final dividend for FY2024 would be declared in line with merger ratio (with this being 0.12849 of the FY2024 final dividend of IDX).

Meanwhile, Genesis Energy Ltd (ASX:GNE) posted a significant fall in profit during the 12-month period to June 2024.

In its full statutory accounts, Genesis said its net profit was down 33% to $131.1 million compared to $195.8 million in the previous fiscal year.

This was also reflected in the company’s EBITDAF (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation, fair value movements of financial instruments, investment costs, realisations and impairments), which came in at $407.2 million in FY2024, a fall of 22% from the figure of $523.5 million in FY2023.

Genesis said its ‘strategy was on track despite a challenging year’ impacted by constraints in gas supply, low hydro and wind levels, and a 7-month outage at Huntly Unit 5.

Its total dividends per share for FY2024 were 14 cps, compared to 17.6 cps in FY2023, a fall of 21%.

An annual report was also out from casino operator SkyCity Entertainment Group Ltd (ASX:SKC), who said that underlying group NPAT had fallen 7.2% TO NZ$123.2 million, reflecting lower earnings.

EBITDA was also down 8% to NZ$277.8 million, and CEO Jason Walbridge said the weaker figures overall were underpinned by cost-of-living pressures, a softer economy, and SkyCity’s requirement to respond to certain regulatory issues.

SkyCity previously announced that it would be closing gambling operations at its Auckland site for five days next month, and this was set to cost the company NZ$5 million in expected earnings for FY2025.

The decision was made as part of an agreement between management and the Secretary of Internal Affairs in order to avoid the temporary suspension of the company’s casino operator’s licence.

Underlying earnings per share were 16.2 cps for FY2024, a fall of 7.3% year on year.

Medibank Private Ltd (ASX:MPL) reported a strong suite of results today, with underlying NPAT coming in at $570.4 million for the 2024 fiscal year: a rise of 14.1% from the previous reporting period.

CEO David Koczkar said the priority for Medibank had been on keeping premiums low and providing support for customers, as reflected in a $305 million COVID give back, which brought total customer support to a record $1.46 billion during the period.

The company’s final ordinary dividend (fully franked) was 9.4 cps.

At 12:11 AEST, Medibank shares were down 1.5% at $3.88, SkyCity shares were down 2.41% at $1.42, shares in Genesis Energy had risen 0.48% to $2.08, and Capitol Health shares were 4.24% higher at 31 cents.

Iluka Resources Ltd (ASX:ILU) said its profit during the first half of the 2024 fiscal year had come in at $134 million, a drop of 34% from the same period last year, when it had been at $204 million.

The company’s interim fully franked dividend was 4 cps (cash per share) in the first half of 2024, compared to 3 cps during the prior comparable period – a difference of 33%.

Iluka said the lower profit figure reflected weaker movement in construction and real estate sectors, which had provided flow on effects to titanium and zircon markets.

Nevertheless, the company’s share price was trending higher after the news, reaching $5.74 by 12:30 AEST: a rise of just under one percent since the market opened.

Meanwhile, Mount Gibson Iron (ASX:MGX) told investors that a strong operation at Koolan Island had boosted its profit and revenue for the 2024 fiscal year.

Net profit for the period had risen 24% for a figure of $6.4 million, compared to $5.2 million in FY2023.

Revenues were also strong, based on 36% growth in sales of high-grade iron ore, reported at 4.1 million wet metric tonnes (at a grade of 65.3% Fe) for the 2024 fiscal year.

This brought sales revenue to $667.7 million Free on Board (FOB), compared to $450.6 million FOB for the prior fiscal year.

The company did not declare a dividend on ordinary shares for the fiscal year ending June 30.

Its share price at 12:30 AEST was 34 cents: this was up 1.52% since market open.

Logistics company Brambles Ltd (ASX:BXB) said its underlying profit for the 2024 fiscal year was US$1,262.2 million – a rise of 17% from the previous reporting period, while sales revenues had grown by 7% to US$6,545.4 million.

Brambles also said its dividend yield for the period was around 3%, for a final figure was 19 US cents per share and a total dividend of 34.00 cps.

Its shares were trading higher on the news, up 8.26% to $16.97 by 12:30 AEST.

Dominos PIZZA Enterprises Ltd (ASX:DMP) was not having a great day, with shares falling 0.81% (to $33.14) as it conceded a fall of nearly 2% profit for the 2024 fiscal year compared to the previous period.

The fast-food company said its NPAT for FY2024 had come in at $120.4 million – a fall of 1.9% from last year’s figure of $122.6 million.

Given last month’s news of store closures in Asia and Europe, this was perhaps not surprising, and indeed earnings in Asia overall were trending downwards, with EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) being 28.7% lower compared to the FY2023.

However, the same measure showed 33.8% growth for Europe overall, driven largely by strong sales in Germany.

Overall group EBIT was up 3% compared to the 2023 fiscal year, while dividend per share had fallen 3.7% compared to last year.

Finally, top energy player Santos Ltd (ASX:STO) saw its share price fall by 4.92% (to $7.44) by 12:58 AEST, as it reported a notable profit drop in its half-year results.

Santos said its underlying profit for the half year had fallen 18% to US$654 million, with this reflecting a draw back from LNG.

Santos registered 46.4 million barrels of oil equivalent during the second half of FY2024 – a 1% fall in sales volumes compared to the same period last year, driven by lower volumes in Bayu-Undan and the Cooper Basin.

However, the company also told the market that its interim dividend was at a record level: rising 49% to a declared interim dividend of 13 US cents per share.

Woodside is set to take on Driftwood through its acquisition of all remaining stock in Texas-based natural gas company Tellurian (NYSE: TELL) – which runs the project – for the price of $900 million, or $1.00 per share of the outstanding stock.

Located near Lake Charles in Louisiana, Driftwood is an opportunity which is fully permitted, and has reached the pre-final investment decision (FID) stage, and is comprised of five LNG trains through four phases, with a total permitted capacity of 27.6 million tonnes per annum.

CEO Meg O’Neill said that taking on the project represented Woodside’s investment in the energy transition.

“The acquisition of Tellurian and its Driftwood LNG development opportunity positions Woodside to be a global LNG powerhouse,” she said.

“It adds a scalable US LNG development opportunity to our existing approximately 10 Mtpa of equity LNG in Australia.

“Having a complementary US position would allow us to better serve customers globally and capture further marketing optimisation opportunities across both the Atlantic andPacific Basins.

“The Driftwood LNG development opportunity is competitively advantaged. Woodside expects to leverage its global LNG expertise to unlock this fully permitted development and expand our relationship with Bechtel which is the EPC contractor for both Driftwood LNG and our Pluto Train 2 project in Australia.”

Woodside has been trading at $29.21.