The company achieved quarterly sales and revenue of 2.5 million barrels of oil equivalent and $125 million, respectively.
Its Cooper Basin oil reserves were up 9% despite record annual production and full-year sales of 10.55MMboe were seven times those of the previous financial year.
Increased production and higher oil prices pushed up full-year revenue, which almost quadrupled up from $124 million to $472 million.
But there was one black spot. Sales for the June quarter of 2.54 million barrels were slightly lower than for the previous quarter, due mainly to reduced sales from the troubled Basker and Manta fields in the offshore Gippsland Basin.
Production attributable to Beach Petroleum for the June quarter was 2.45MMboe, a 6% increase on the March quarter. The increase was due to higher gas and gas liquids production from the Cooper-Eromanga basin where Beach holds an average 21% equity interest following its acquisition of Delhi Petroleum.
Beach’s proved and probable (2P) hydrocarbon reserves at 30 June, totaled 93.4MMboe. The company holds additional resources of oil, gas and condensate in the Basker, Manta and Gummy (BMG) fields together with a large coal seam methane resource at Tipton West in Queensland’s Surat Basin.
These conditional resources provide further considerable development opportunities in the near term, with the potential to more than double the booked 2P reserves, managing director Reg Nelson said.
Beach’s Cooper-Eromanga oil reserves have increased by 1 million barrels since June 30, 2006 to reach 12.3MMbbl, as a result of successful exploration-appraisal drilling which added 2.1MMbbl to the reserves base.
About 40% of the additional reserves were generated through the Cooper Oil Project, which began in Beach’s tenements in September 2006, according to Nelson.
“The most significant aspect of the quarter and the full year has been the success of Beach Petroleum’s acquisition of Delhi Petroleum,” he said.
He said sales for the full year exceeded 10.5MMboe, combined with Beach Petroleum’s efforts on the eastern and western regions of the Cooper Basin adding substantially to oil reserves.
Beach has participated in 38 wells through the Cooper Oil Program, which has enjoyed a 76% success rate.
Nelson also said Beach’s CSM business continues to grow.
“Production and sales from the Tipton West field continue to grow and three new pilot projects are planned for financial year 2007-08. These new projects are expected to add 180 petajoules to the field’s 2P reserves and thereby more than double the 2P reserves base,” he said.
