Woodside (ASX:WPL) share price slides 3% this week. Here's why

Shares in Australia's largest oil and gas producer have not had a great week. Let's take a look at what's been happening at Woodside.

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It hasn't been the best week for the Woodside Petroleum Limited (ASX: WPL) share price.

By Friday's close, the Woodside share price was 2.90% lower for the week at $22.76. It also lost 0.91% in today's trade.

The big news out of the ASX 200 energy giant this week was its quarterly report, released yesterday morning.

Production down 4% this quarter

The Woodside share price lost almost 1% yesterday after the company released its second-quarter update for the 3 months ending June 2021.

At one point during intraday trading, Woodside shares were down almost 2% before partially recovering by the close of Thursday's session.

This also came following a slide in oil prices the night prior.

In its update, Woodside reported it had realised additional revenue on the back of hot markets in oil and liquefied natural gas, with both of these commodities fetching a premium.

The company highlighted that this propped up second-quarter revenue by 15%, recognising ~$1.72 billion in the 3 months to June.

Despite the gain, Woodside reported a 4% decline in production of 27 million barrels of oil equivalent (MMboe) from the previous quarter.

In the report, Woodside acting chief executive Meg O'Neill said:

Revenue from oil sales during the period was higher than the first quarter supported by an above-market average realised price of $75/barrel, while revenue from LNG sales climbed 14%.

Recent acquisition success

This week's downward pressure on the Woodside share price came despite some positive news released by the company just last week.

On 7 July, Woodside announced it had completed the acquisition of "the entire participating interest of FAR Senegal".

The arrangement saw the company claim operations at the Rufisque Offshore, Sangormar Offshore and Sangomar Deep Offshore joint venture.

The company completed the transaction at a US$45 million valuation, in addition to certain adjustments to the tune of $167 million.

Despite the seemingly upbeat news, the Woodside share price slipped 1.87% into the red on the day of the announcement.

Woodside share price snapshot

The Woodside Petroleum share price has had a choppy year to date. It is down 1.34% since the start of January.

Over 12 months, it has gained 10.27%.

This lags the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO), which is up 9.93% since the start of January and 21.79% over the past 12 months.

Woodside has a market capitalisation of around $22 billion.

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The author Zach Bristow has no positions in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia's parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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