据路透社2月14日墨尔本报道，周四，澳大利亚伍德赛德石油公司（Woodside Petroleum Ltd）公布其2018年年度利润增长了36%，在油价上涨的支撑下，该公司丰厚的股息让投资者感到惊讶。

一年前，这家澳大利亚最大的独立油气生产商预计油价平均为每桶65美元时，股东们突然筹集了25亿美元收购新股，这一支出高于预期。

到去年年底，由于石油价格平均为每桶71美元，而由雪佛龙公司运营、部分由伍德赛德公司拥有的Wheatstone液化天然气项目表现超预期，促使伍德塞德公司现金充裕。

伍德赛德公司首席执行长Peter Coleman在一次电话会议上对记者表示：“我们认为，鉴于价格和产量一直比我们在融资时预期的要高，因此，奖励去年支持我们融资的股东是明智的做法。”

RBC分析师Ben Wilson在一份报告中说：“分红是一个大惊喜, 伍德赛德下半年的分红率达到了100%左右。”

Wilson说：“增加的股息将受到一些人的欢迎，尤其是考虑到在油价波动加剧的推动下，全球能源企业的投资者对现金流的需求很大，而且分布也越来越广。”

据Refilitiv估计，伍德赛德股息总额为8.52亿美元，即每股收益144美分，高于分析师预测的每股收益约为135美分。

该公司2018年净利润从2017年的10.7亿美元增至13.6亿美元，基本利润为14.2亿美元，略低于分析师估计的约14.5亿美元。

考虑到经济增长，伍德塞德今年1月承诺投资16亿美元至17亿美元，其中大部分资金将投入到斯卡伯勒（Scarborough）和Browse的早期工程中，用于天然气开发和澳大利亚Pluto LNG工厂的扩建，该公司的目标是到2027年将LNG产量增加一倍。

去年的融资，部分是为了帮助伍德赛德以7.44亿美元收购斯卡伯勒50%的股份，从而使其持有的股份总额达到75%。

詹晓晶摘自路透社

原文如下：

Australia's Woodside beefs up 2018 dividend on strong oil prices

Australia’s Woodside Petroleum Ltd surprised investors with a fat dividend on Thursday after reporting a 36-percent percent rise in annual profit, underpinned by stronger oil prices.

The higher-than-expected payout came after shareholders stumped up $2.5 billion to buy new shares a year ago at a time when Australia’s biggest independent oil and gas producer expected oil prices to average $65 a barrel.

By the end of the year it was flush with cash as oil prices had averaged $71 and the Wheatstone liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, run by Chevron Corp and partly owned by Woodside, performed better than anticipated.

“We thought it was prudent to reward our shareholders for supporting us last year in the equity raising, given that pricing and production has been stronger than we expected when we raised that equity,” Woodside Chief Executive Peter Coleman told reporters on a conference call.

“The dividend was the big surprise, a second-half payout ratio of about 100 percent,” RBC analyst Ben Wilson said in a note.

“The increased dividend will be welcomed by some, particularly given the strong appetite for cash-flow generation and higher distribution from investors in energy companies globally, driven by increased oil price volatility,” Wilson said.

The total dividend was $852 million, or 144 cents a share, compared with analysts’ forecasts of around 135 cents a share, according to Refinitiv estimates.

Net profit for 2018 rose to $1.36 billion from $1.07 billion in 2017. Underlying profit was $1.42 billion, just below analysts’ estimates of around $1.45 billion.

With an eye on growth, Woodside in January pledged between $1.6 billion and $1.7 billion towards projects this year, with most of that flowing into early work on its Scarborough and Browse gas developments and expansion of its Pluto LNG plant in Australia, as the company aims to double LNG production by 2027.

The capital raising last year was partly to help Woodside buy a 50-percent stake in Scarborough for $744 million, giving it a total stake of 75 percent.