Woodside Energy is scaling back its lower-carbon ammonia business in the US, specifically at the Beaumont plant in Texas it bought for $2.35 billion in 2024. The facility ran at 69% of capacity in the September quarter because of feedstock constraints and a 30-day shutdown after a safety incident. The company says customer demand for lower-carbon ammonia is developing slower than expected and policy support has become less certain. Woodside also trimmed the top end of its 2026 production guidance to 181 million barrels of oil equivalent, from 185 million, while keeping capex guidance at $4 billion to $4.5 billion. CEO Liz Westcott has already dropped the company's long-term emissions target and cancelled about $5 billion in planned lower-carbon spending. The company is now prioritising the Browse LNG project off Western Australia, which still faces environmental approvals and processing agreement talks. Ammonia buyers and clean fuel watchers should read this as a signal that lower-carbon ammonia premiums may stay under pressure while conventional ammonia prices remain tied to natural gas costs and fertiliser demand. The pullback also shows how policy uncertainty can stall otherwise serious decarbonisation projects.
