Woodside Returns Cash After Abandoning $45 Billion LNG Plan

Woodside Petroleum Ltd., Australia’s second-largest oil producer, will return about $520 million to investors in dividends after dropping plans to build a liquefied natural gas project estimated to cost $45 billion.

Woodside climbed 9.7 percent, its biggest increase since November 2008, to A$37.96 at the close in Sydney after deciding to pay a special dividend of 63 cents a share and to boost the dividend payout ratio. Australia’s benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index gained 1 percent.