April 23 (Reuters) - Australia's top gas producer Woodside Energy (WDS.AX) , opens new tab posted a 13% rise in first-quarter revenue on Wednesday, beating estimates, boosted by the start-up of its Senegal-based Sangomar project in July 2024 and strong gas hub-linked prices.

Gas-hub linked prices, which Woodside benefited from, are determined by trading at specific natural gas hubs, differing from oil-linked prices that typically follow crude oil market trends.

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Woodside posted revenue of $3.32 billion for the quarter, beating a Visible Alpha consensus estimate of $2.79 billion and up from the $2.95 billion reported a year ago.

Smaller rival Santos (STO.AX) , opens new tab last week reported a 7% fall in quarterly sales revenue.

Woodside said it continues to target its first liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo from Western Australia-based Scarborough Energy project for the second half of 2026.

During the quarter, average realized prices came in at $65 per barrel of oil equivalent (boe), up 3% from a year ago.

Production rose to 49.1 million barrels of oil equivalent (MMboe) compared with 44.9 MMboe last year.

Perth-based Woodside kept its 2025 production and capital expenditure forecast unchanged.

However, on a quarter-on-quarter basis, the energy firm reported a decline of 5% in revenue, largely due to a fall in oil-linked prices, coupled with cyclone impacts at its North West Shelf project and unplanned train outages at its Pluto LNG project.

In April, Woodside agreed to sell a 40% stake in its Louisiana LNG plant to U.S. infrastructure investor Stonepeak for $5.7 billion, a move aimed at reducing capital spending for the Australian firm.

"We are assessing the potential impacts of recent tariff announcements and potential further trade measures on Louisiana LNG," the company said in a statement.

https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/woodside-energy-posts-13-rise-first-quarter-revenue-2025-04-22/