Monsters of Rock: BHP shareholders out of oil, into Woodside?

BHP (ASX:BHP) is getting ready to sell out of petroleum and Perth-based Woodside Petroleum (ASX:WPL) is in the box seat.

Media reports say the big miner’s $20 billion oil and gas business could be merged with Woodside in a mega-deal which would enable BHP to exit oil and gas as it looks to also part way with its east coast coal mines.

According to market disclosures from the companies today a potential merger would involve the distribution of Woodside stock to BHP shareholders.

Woodside had a win last week with news the WA Government had granted a major environmental approval on the multi-billion dollar Scarborough project in the North West Shelf.

BHP will report its financials tomorrow, with a potential record dividend on the back of its iron ore earnings.

The major miners dragged the materials sector down 0.77% today, with only energy stocks and financials faring worse.

NORTHERN STAR RESOURCES (ASX:NST)

The old adage goes ‘what’s bad for the world is good for gold’ and the news over the weekend has been an absolute stinker.

Between the fall of Kabul to the Taliban, disappointing Chinese economic data and the rise of Covid Delta cases in Australia and around the world we’re all looking for some comfort.

Gold is of course the comfort food of the investing industry, the safe haven commodity investors and reserve banks head to in times of trouble.

Northern Star was one of the better performers among the ASX-listed large caps, with bids on Newcrest Mining (ASX:NCM) stock also going up.

The price of bullion has largely moderated, trending back up in the direction of US$1800/oz over the past week after a worrying dip that split expert opinion on the long-term outlook for the yellow metal.

Northern Star Resources share price today:

IMDEX (ASX:IMD)

Mining tech specialist Imdex reckons exploration is lifting off as miners seek the rapidly depleting commodities needed for decarbonisation.

Its shares soared today on stellar FY21 results.

They included record revenue of $264.4 million, up more than 11% on FY2020, a 38.8% climb in EBITDA to $75.5m and a 45.5% lift in NPAT to $31.7m.

The company said short-term headwinds from Covid paled against the fundamentals underlying long-term growth in mining and drilling services.

These include the increasing depth of new discoveries resulting in larger drilling campaigns, commodity prices supported by government stimulus, decarbonisation and broad industry and consumer demand and more investor funds flowing into resources companies.

Imdex stock rose 10% yesterday and is up a casual 320% over the past five years as well as almost 75% over the last 12 months.