S&P cuts Woodside Petroleum

Standard & Poor's said that it lowered Woodside Petroleum Ltd.'s corporate credit and associated debt ratings to BBB+ from A-.

The outlook is stable.

The downgrade follows a further delay and higher costs for Woodside's Pluto project.

The rating reflects the opinion that further delays and cost overruns for Pluto will hinder a timely recovery in Woodside's credit metrics, especially positive free operating cash flow after capital expenditure, the agency said.

The stable outlook reflects the view that Woodside will complete the development of the large-scale Pluto project without further significant cost overruns or time delays and that Woodside will return to positive free operating cash flow generation in 2012, S&P said.

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