Coleman takes more conservative approach

PADDY MANNING February 23, 2012

PETER COLEMAN, the Woodside chief, has a 20-strong team working out what to do with the free cash flow that will be generated by its new Pluto liquefied natural gas facility, and by the likely sell-down of its 46 per cent stake in the massive - and controversial - Browse gas field off Western Australia's Kimberley Coast.

Coleman insisted yesterday the ''cash won't burn a hole in our pocket'' and there was "no burning desire or need here, to go and do a deal for the sake of doing a deal''.

It was only Coleman's second results presentation at Woodside, but the first since he has had a chance to stamp his authority on the company. Anyone listening into yesterday's earnings call could tell there is a new kind of strategic thinking going on and nothing can be ruled in or out.

No more over-promising and under-delivering is just the start. Given the delays and cost blowouts at Woodside's Pluto project, inherited from the outspoken predecessor Don Voelte, and some large balls in the air - a potential Pluto expansion, Browse and the Sunrise project in East Timor - it is understandable Coleman wants to restore discipline.

The Bell Potter analyst Johan Hedstrom stressed the quality of yesterday's result, given Woodside managed to meet market expectations even though, for example, it had taken exploration write-downs of $587 million - more than double compared with 2010. ''It reflects [Coleman's] more conservative approach,'' Hedstrom said.

Getting the Woodside house in order might show Coleman is conservative. His next steps may show he is anything but.