Australia's Beach Energy reports lower sales revenue in July-September
Australian oil and gas company Beach Energy on October 25 reported a 2% year/year decline in sales revenue for the July-September quarter (Q1FY24) due to lower production and lower oil prices.
Sales revenue for the quarter was A$397mn ($252mn), compared with A$405mn in the same quarter last year. On a quarter/quarter basis, Beach reported a 12% drop in sales revenue because of lower output and lower gas prices.
Production during the quarter was 4.5mn barrels of oil equivalent (boe), down from 5.2mn boe in the same period last year and 5mn boe in the previous quarter. The average realised gas price in Q1 was A$8.9/gigajoules, higher than A$8.5/gigajoules last year but lower than A$9.5/gigajoules in the previous quarter.
Beach CEO Bruce Clement said that production was down 10% from the prior quarter, predominately due to minimum gas nominations made by Beach’s Otway basin customer, Origin Energy, which saw over 10 petajoules of gas being made available but not taken.
“Given Beach’s significant investment to develop gas and increase production from the Otway basin in support of the Victorian and East Coast gas markets, it is disappointing that Beach is unable to deliver this gas at a time when the government and the market are actively pursuing additional gas supply,” Clement said.
Clement also provided an update on the Waitsia Stage 2 gas project, saying that a ramp-up in onsite labour saw the project achieve further construction and initial electrification milestones.
Beach in May this year announced that the construction progress at the Waitsia gas plant has experienced delays due to the tight labour market in the region. The company had partnered with Italy's Webuild in February to complete the Waitsia Stage 2 project, pending the finalisation of the Clough administration.
The Waitsia gas field is one of the largest onshore gas fields ever found in Australia. In 2020, Beach and Japan's Mitsui made a final investment decision to proceed with the project.