ExxonMobil Eyes Woodside Energy in LNG Push

ExxonMobil’s internal evaluation of a potential US$42 billion acquisition of Woodside Energy signals a strategy to rapidly close its liquefied natural gas (LNG) portfolio gap with European rivals amid post-Hormuz supply disruptions. If executed, the transaction would fundamentally impact Mexico’s regulatory and upstream investment landscape by placing a global supermajor in operational control of Trion, the country's most advanced, multi-billion-dollar ultra-deepwater project. This ownership shift would provide PEMEX’s flagship deepwater partnership with vastly superior balance sheet capacity and global marketing infrastructure, though any formal corporate restructuring will require rigorous execution and antitrust reviews by Mexico's National Hydrocarbons Commission (CNH).

ExxonMobil is studying a potential acquisition of Woodside Energy Group, Australia's largest LNG exporter, according to reports first published by Bloomberg. The deliberations are early-stage and internal, focused on deepening ExxonMobil's presence in global gas markets. No formal offer has been made, and both companies have declined to comment publicly.

Despite ranking as the world's largest publicly traded oil and gas company by market capitalization, ExxonMobil has lagged considerably behind European rivals Shell and TotalEnergies in building a diversified, multi-basin LNG portfolio, a gap that has become a pressing commercial liability in the post-Hormuz environment. Woodside's market capitalization stood at approximately AU$59 billion (US$42 billion) as of mid-2026, and the company is Australia's premier LNG exporter with a comprehensive multi-project development pipeline and an established Asian customer base. Woodside's American depositary receipts surged as much as 14% in New York trading following initial reports of ExxonMobil's evaluation.

Santos Ltd. has been cited as the most frequently mentioned alternative for companies seeking Australian LNG exposure, having attracted repeated acquisition interest, including a consortium bid linked to ADNOC, as reported by Bloomberg. But Woodside's scale and project maturity make it the more natural target for a company seeking to close its LNG gap quickly rather than build incrementally.

Woodside's Global Portfolio Context

Woodside's Scarborough Energy Project off Western Australia was 96% complete as of 1Q26 report and remains on budget and on track for first LNG cargo in 4Q26, with the floating production unit having completed hook-up and commenced topside commissioning following its arrival in Australia. Woodside took the final investment decision to develop the Louisiana LNG Project, positioning the company as what it has described internally as a "global LNG powerhouse," targeting first LNG in 2029, and has signed six new long-term LNG supply agreements over the past year with customers in Asia and Europe, some extending into the early 2040s.

Woodside has also been managing its capital intensity through partner sell-downs: transactions with Stonepeak reduced Woodside's share of capital expenditure for Louisiana LNG to US$9.9 billion, with Stonepeak contributing 75% of capital expenditure in 2025 and 2026, and discussions are ongoing for the potential sale of up to a further 20% of the Louisiana LNG entity. That capital-recycling pattern, bringing in partners to fund development while retaining operatorship, mirrors the structure BP has used in its own Gulf of Mexico portfolio management with Kaskida and Tiber.

Woodside at Mexico’s Trion

Woodside's Trion Project in the Mexican Gulf progressed to 56% complete as of the company's first-quarter 2026 report and remains on budget, targeting first oil in 2028. Trion is Mexico's first ultra-deepwater development, discovered by PEMEX in 2012 and developed in partnership with Woodside following CNH approval, with peak output projected at 110,000 barrels per day of oil and 101 million cubic feet per day of gas.

The 60%/40% Woodside/PEMEX ownership split means Woodside holds operational control of the project. If ExxonMobil were to acquire Woodside, it would inherit that controlling position, placing one of the world's largest integrated oil majors directly into Mexico's most advanced deepwater project, at a moment when PEMEX itself has no comparable deepwater operating capacity of its own and has structured its entire ultra-deepwater strategy around this single partnership.

For Mexico's broader deepwater ambitions, an area where the country has lagged the US side of the same Gulf basin by nearly two decades, an Exxon-Woodside combination would bring deeper balance sheet capacity and global LNG marketing infrastructure to bear on a project that has, to date, been managed by a mid-sized Australian-domiciled operator.