Meg O'Brien

Meg O'Brien leads Woodside Energy as CEO, overseeing Australia's largest independent oil and gas company. Woodside is primarily an LNG (liquefied natural gas) producer, operating the North West Shelf LNG venture and the Pluto LNG plant in Western Australia — facilities that liquefy natural gas for export to Asian markets, particularly Japan, South Korea, and China. The 2022 merger with BHP's petroleum division significantly expanded Woodside's portfolio. Woodside is developing major growth projects: Scarborough (a large gas field that will feed a second Pluto LNG train) and Trion (a deepwater oil project in the Gulf of Mexico). These projects represent the company's strategy to grow production while Asia's LNG demand continues to increase. Australia is the world's largest LNG exporter alongside Qatar and the United States. Asian LNG demand is driven by coal-to-gas switching for power generation, industrial gas use, and energy security considerations. Key stock drivers include LNG spot and contract prices, oil prices (which influence oil-linked LNG contracts), Scarborough project execution and costs, Pluto Train 2 construction progress, production volumes and reliability, Australian regulatory and tax environment, carbon emission reduction targets, and Asian LNG demand trends driven by decarbonization and energy security.