Why the Woodside (ASX:WPL) share price is tumbling lower today

The Woodside Petroleum Limited (ASX:WPL) share price is tumbling lower on Thursday following the release of its full year results for FY 2020

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The Woodside Petroleum Limited (ASX: WPL) share price has come under pressure today following the release of its full year results.

At the time of writing, the energy producer's shares are down 3% to $25.13.

How did Woodside perform in FY 2020?

For the 12 months ended 31 December, Woodside delivered record full year production of 100.3 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe). It also had its best-ever safety performance despite the difficult external conditions. The company reported a total recordable injury rate of 0.88 per million work hours.

However, due to a 33% reduction in the volume weighted average price of its products to US$32 per boe, the company reported a 26% decline in operating revenue to US$3,600 million.

Things were even worse on the bottom line due to previously announced non-cash impairments and onerous contract provisions. For FY 2020, Woodside recorded a net loss after tax of US$4,028 million.

On an underlying basis, net profit after tax came in at US$447 million. This was down 58% year on year from $1,063 million in FY 2019.

In light of this poor form, the company declared a final dividend of 12 U.S. cents per share. This brought its full year dividend to 38 U.S. cents per share, which is also down 58% year on year.

Woodside's CEO, Peter Coleman, commented: "Strong production outcomes were delivered even though we weathered a direct hit from Tropical Cyclone Damien in February, followed by operational challenges posed by the pandemic. The outstanding performance of our base business in 2020 was reflected in our low unit production cost of US$4.8 per barrel of oil equivalent and the high reliability of our operated LNG facilities."

Outlook

Also potentially weighing on the Woodside share price today could be its guidance for the year ahead.

Management expects the company's production to fall from 100.3 Mmboe in FY 2020 to between 90 and 95 MMboe in FY 2021. This is partly due to KGP LNG Trains 2 and 4 each being shut down for approximately one month.

The company is also forecasting an increase in investment expenditure to between US$2,900 million to US$3,200 million. This compares to US$2,000 million in FY 2020.

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