Woodside says $2.68 bln buyback from Shell likely to fail

MELBOURNE, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Woodside Petroleum Ltd (Other OTC: WOPEF - news) all but conceded on Friday that its plan to buy back $2.68 billion of its shares from Royal Dutch Shell Plc (LSE: RDSA.L - news) is doomed to fail, as shareholders met to vote on the plan.

Defeat of the buyback would deal a blow to oil giant Shell (LSE: RDSB.L - news) 's asset sale plans and leave Woodside, Australia's largest oil and gas company, the headache of dealing with an overhang weighing on its share price, as well as managing a cash horde.

Woodside Chairman Michael Chaney said the vote was likely to be determind by votes that were mailed in ahead of the meeting, which showed only 71.3 percent support for the buyback.

"The resolution required 75 percent approval of all votes cast in order to proceed and it looks like we shall fall short of that," Chaney told shareholders in a speech released to the Australian stock exchange.

(Reporting by Sonali Paul; Editing by Richard Pullin)