“The rise in revenue, combined with the start of oil production from the Basker and Manta oil fields in Bass Strait and the completion of development drilling in the Tipton West coal seam gas field in Queensland in the half year represent key achievements for Beach,” the company said yesterday.

“High initial success rates from drilling operations in Beach Petroleum’s tenements as part of the Cooper Oil Project have also been highly encouraging.”

During the December quarter, Beach’s market capitalisation reached over $1 billion.

The company also participated in the drilling of 25 wells during the December quarter with a 68% success overall rate.

Production

Production for the quarter was 2.278 million barrels of oil equivalent, down 6% on the September 2006 quarter due to an 8% decline in Cooper Basin gas production volumes but partially offset by an 8% increase in Cooper/Eromanga oil production and start of oil production from the Anzon-operated Basker Manta project in the Gippsland basin.

Revenue

Beach’s share of proceeds from petroleum sales for the December 2006 quarter was $80.7 million, down 10% from the previous quarter due to the decline in gas sales, partially offset by the realised oil price after hedging for the quarter. Sales revenue for the first half reached record levels of $170.2 million.

Cooper Oil Project

During the quarter, Beach participated in 11 wells associated with the Cooper Oil Project, operated by Santos, with a 100% success rate.

The program resulted on one new oil field discovery in the Pasticcio-1 well (Beach 20.21%), five successful oil appraisal wells in the Yanda and Wackett fields (Beach 20%) and five successful oil development wells which were drilled in the Yanda Field, according to Beach managing director Reg Nelson.

“The high success rates from drilling so far in the Cooper Oil Project support our view that the Cooper Basin asset still retains significant upside potential for Beach Petroleum,” Nelson said.

The company is also diversifying beyond its strong base in conventional oil and gas. The completion of development drilling and the start of dewatering operations at the Tipton West coal seam methane project and Beach’s new geothermal energy joint venture with Petratherm have opened significant new opportunities for growth in the company, according to Nelson.