Bulletin: Ratings And Outlook On Woodside Petroleum Unchanged Following Revision To Standard&Poor's Oil Price Assumptions

MELBOURNE (Standard&Poor's) Sept. 30, 2015--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that the recent downward revision to our oil price assumptions, which are on average US$7.50 lower than previously, has no immediate rating impact on the 'BBB+' rating on Woodside Petroleum Ltd. The outlook remains stable. Given these new oil price assumptions, the rating buffer for Woodside's credit metrics has reduced. Rating stability is dependent on Woodside maintaining its funds from operations (FFO) to debt (adjusted to include asset-retirement obligations and operating leases) of more than 45% while the company pursues its growth opportunities in the short-to-medium term. We also expect Woodside to generate positive free operating cash flows. Downward rating pressure could arise if we forecast Woodside's

...MELBOURNE (Standard & Poor's) Sept. 30, 2015--Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said today that the recent downward revision to our oil price assumptions, which are on average US$7.50 lower than previously, has no immediate rating impact on the '###+' rating on Woodside Petroleum Ltd. The outlook remains stable. Given these new oil price assumptions, the rating buffer for Woodside's credit metrics has reduced. Rating stability is dependent on Woodside maintaining its funds from operations (FFO) to debt (adjusted to include asset-retirement obligations and operating leases) of more than 45% while the company pursues its growth opportunities in the short-to-medium term. We also expect Woodside to generate positive free operating cash flows. Downward rating pressure could arise if we forecast Woodside's adjusted FFO-to-debt ratio would fall to less than 45%. This deterioration could occur if Woodside outspends its internal cash flows by developing large projects; if it undertook a sizable...

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