...MELBOURNE (Standard & Poor's) April 22, 2015--Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said today that its ratings on Woodside Petroleum Ltd. (###+/Stable/--) are unaffected by the recent lowering of its oil price assumptions for 2017 and beyond. On March 26, 2015, we reduced our Brent oil price assumptions for 2017 and beyond to US$75 per barrel from US$80 per barrel, while our 2015 and 2016 price assumptions are unchanged (see article under Related Research below). The 2017 price revision does not in isolation pressure the rating on Woodside. In our opinion, the rating can accommodate the weak oil prices and Woodside's acquisition of several assets from U.S.-based Apache Corp. The company has acquired Apache's interest in the Julimar Brunello field, the Wheatstone liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, and the Balnaves oil project in Australia for US$2.817 billion, including a closing adjustment of US$567 million. The Kitimat LNG project interests in Canada have also been acquired, at a cost...
