ASX reporting season: Woodside rockets on Middle East tensions; Coles hit by Ooshies promotion; Monadelphous

Woodside is the latest energy major to report surging profits in the wake of the global oil crisis fuelled by the US war with Iran in the Middle East.

The company has also announced a structured review of the business as it prepares to bring new projects online, including Scarborough, saying it has set a target of stripping $US350 million of cost savings out of the business from 2028.

The Perth-headquatered oil and gas giant this morning reported net profit soared 27 per cent in the first half of the year, up from $US1.32 billion a year ago to $US1.67b.

Operating revenue leapt 13 per cent to $US7.45b after average realised prices for a barrel of oil equivalent rose 20 per cent compared to the same period a year ago to $US74.

The huge surge in both revenue and profit came despite production slipping 13 per cent to 86.5 million barrels of oil equivalent.

Woodside will pay out a fully franked interim dividend of US57c a share, up from the previous year’s US53c.

CEO Liz Westcott said the company delivered a resilient first half performance, remaining a secure and reliable supplier to customers throughout a period of global volatility.

“We once again delivered strong production, cash flow and shareholder returns, while continuing to execute the next phase of growth.”

Australian fuel refinery and retailer Ampol yesterday posted a near five-fold increase in profit, up to $857.2m in the half year.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq have ended lower, pulled down by technology stocks as investors weighed fresh US economic pressure against Iran and braced for a week that includes Nvidia earnings and a closely watched inflation report.

US President Donald Trump’s administration announced on Monday a possible expansion of sanctions on countries doing business with Iran as part of what it billed as an “economic D-Day,” but stopped short of actually imposing penalties.

Chip stocks sold off, dragging the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index lower.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott delivered one of the starkest warnings yet from a Republican to the AI industry, saying data centre companies “dug their own grave” and deserve the backlash they’re facing after failing to win community support, Axios reported on Sunday.

This month, Abbott ordered a pause on approvals of new data centre projects through the state’s grid interconnection process, citing concerns that a surge in electricity demand could threaten reliability at a time when opposition to the projects is growing.

“The bigger worry we have is the hawkish rhetoric we’re starting to hear from politicians on AI and data centres,” said Ohsung Kwon, chief equity strategist at Wells Fargo.

“We’ve been highlighting that as a big risk heading into the midterms.”

Read the full overnight report here ..

Here’s everything you may have missed from yesterday’s financial reports to the ASX ...