Woodside Energy interviews CEO contenders as it counts down to April appointment deadline

A shortlist of contenders said to include BHP’s Australia boss Geraldine Slattery are being interviewed for Woodside Energy’s top job this week as the group aims to make good on its promise of an appointment by the end of the month.

The board interviews are taking place against a background of heightened volatility in energy markets that will pose an extra challenge for the new chief executive and the $57 billion company’s busy development schedule.

The betting is still on Woodside tapping one of its own for the role, which was vacated by Meg O’Neill in December when she resigned to take the helm of global giant BP in London.

However, Ms Slattery publicly emerged in the mix last week through an intriguingly-timed leak.

A 30-year veteran of the Big Australian, Ms Slattery ran BHP Petroleum before it was bought by Woodside in 2022 and was said to have been a contender for the Woodside’s CEO job before stand-in Ms O’Neill was confirmed in the role the same year.

More recently, she has been identified as a potential replacement for BHP boss Mike Henry amid speculation he will step down from the $260b global miner this year.

MST Financial’s head of energy research, Saul Kavonic, said that given the strength of its internal candidates — interim chief executive Liz Westcott, international boss Daniel Kalms and chief commercial officer Mark Abbotsford — an outside contender would have to be particularly “compelling”.

“Geraldine may have been considered and passed over for the Woodside CEO role five years ago, so the question for the market may be what has changed since then to justify a different consideration now,” Mr Kavonic said.

“No-one gives up the BHP CEO role for the Woodside CEO role so Woodside’s board may be left questioning the motivation behind the leak of Geraldine’s interviews for the Woodside role in the first place.”

Mr Kavonic believes an internal appointment is more likely “given the need for continuity after the abrupt nature of Meg’s departure”.

The American has been on gardening leave since stepping down. She is due to start with BP next month on an initial £11.7 million-plus ($22.25m) package that includes cash and share-based awards to replace bonuses and stock rights forfeited on her resignation from Woodside.

Mr Kavonic said Woodside’s investors appeared to favour Mr Abbotsford over the other internal candidates, “given how critical the commercial and marketing elements are seen to Woodside’s future value”.

“But that is just one factor for the board to consider and the CEO selection process is still ongoing, so it is all still to play for,” he said.

Woodside is seen as a potential major beneficiary of the Iran war, which has upended global energy markets and sent oil and gas prices soaring as investors worry about a prolonged disruption to exports from the Middle East.

Jarden analysts say that with European and Asian LNG customers looking to diversify away from Middle East supply, there could be increased interest in Woodside’s sale of a further 20 per cent stake in its three-train Louisiana LNG project.

Also, it could benefit “disproportionately” by selling more surplus cargoes into Europe, where gas prices have soared since the US and Israeli attacks on Iran began nearly two weeks ago.