Hampered by weakened oil prices in the early part of 2009, followed by higher prices though reduced sales in the latter part, Woodstock Petroleum Ltd experienced a 27% decline in yearly revenue to $4.352 billion, while its quarterly sales in December yielded $1.26 billion, down 23%.

With decline in natural oil fields at projects in the US and Western Australia, production volumes of oil in the December quarter slid 13% to 20.2 million barrels.

However, amidst the gloom came the ray of light in the form of a booming liquid natural gas (LNG) market, a sector which has been the subject of increasing focus by Woodside. In contrast to its maturing traditional petroleum business, its LNG production is booming. This shows Woodside's intention of becoming a major player in the natural gas market, the area 'where the growth is'. Its LNG operations show a fourth quarter rise in revenue to $250.2 million, compared to the September figures of $221 million.

According to Peter Kropetz, an industry analyst with State One Stockbroking, the decline in oil production was an expected consequence of the maturing of oil business. "You could see a decline in traditional oil production as a negative but if you have the view that LNG is the energy supply of the next 10-20 years, it's brilliant".