Beach's major investors have driven the company's closer-to-home approach that has seen it ditch its far flung ventures in favour of the Cooper Basin, but its next likely overseas foray - Papua New Guinea - could well be via acquiring the likes of Horizon Oil, Energy News has learned.
Presenting the outcome of Beach's strategy review on a conference call last week in place of absent managing director Rob Cole, who was on personal leave, executive director external relations Chris Jamieson told analysts that PNG was very much on the company's radar as part of its new "four-pillar" strategy which includes value accretive acquisitions.
Considering Beach's market capitalisation of $1.047 billion, PNG players like US-listed InterOil ($US2 billion) or fellow Australian-listed stock Oil Search ($A9.973 billion) are likely too big a bite, but the South Australian company may be willing to pay more for production or advanced assets.
On the other hand, buying too big an exploration company may skew Beach's portfolio to the higher-risk end of town.
Yet there's no doubt that the "new normal" low oil price environment is throwing up some bargains, and this is where the likes of Horizon could whet Beach's appetite, in line with its new growth-via-acquisition strategy (though it also includes organic as well as inorganic growth).
A year ago this week Horizon's stock was 34c. Today it's 8c, with a market cap of about $106 million.
"A lot of the good acreage in PNG is up in the Highlands and there are the likes of Horizon Oil and a few others with some good land holdings, they just are a little bit isolated without pipelines set up," Jamieson told Energy News.
"So there's enough onshore activity up there in PNG that would entice us, but I can't see us necessarily going offshore PNG.
"We talked [in last week's analyst conference call] about offshore Gippsland and Otway … Well, we're not actually operating anything out there, but if we did decide to enter that fray more seriously in offshore terms, then we'll need to build that capability."
Yet lower oil prices may well have further south to plunge, which may give Beach more time to focus on what it does best - the Cooper Basin.
"We do see oil staying lower for longer, but at some point someone's going to get it right and we'll be buying in, acquiring businesses or doing farm-ins and getting in at the right time," Jamieson said.
"Is this the right time? You never know. The oil price is pretty low at the moment, it might have another $8-10 to go down, but we can't be too far away from the bottom and it might stay there for a while.
"But at some point someone needs to make a call and might be a bit contrarian, and you can look at what at some of those companies up there in PNG are sitting at - they're cheap compared to where we were 12 months ago.
"We're not saying we're going to jump in, but we're keeping a watching brief.
"Oil Search might be too big a bite for us, but there are a number of smaller players in PNG. You might have Oil Search exiting a certain acreage block, or the acquisition of a Horizon or someone of similar size.
"We're not ruling anything in or out on that front, but suffice to say Australia is the focus and that's where we're really going to be pouring our attention to really looking at."
While Beach's unconventional drive in the Cooper Basin was largely driven by former chief Reg Nelson seeing the US boom coming before many others in Australia did, the US is not where the South Australian player wants to go.
Beach's major investors like Seven Group, Ellison Capital and BlackRock are often forthright in their feedback and where they want Beach to be; and while they do not drive the company, there's no doubt they have influenced the company's decision to shed its far-flung assets in favour of the Cooper.
"Unless you can turn those assets into something that's highly profitable and show that you have a competitive advantage in that space, then really you have no right being there," Jamieson said.
Seven's 19.9% stakes it had built up in Cooper Basin players Beach and Drillsearch in the first half of this year says plenty about how much they like exposure to the east coast gas market, the companies' Cooper assets and management teams.
So Beach is by no means saying it will "end up in PNG". Make no mistake - the real focus is on the Cooper and the east coast gas market.
Beach has made clear its intention to be a producer in other basins in Australia.
"That is a real desire of the team here, and we believe we have the capability to do that, certainly from an onshore perspective, while maintaining a really strong financial position," Jamieson said.
"Rob Cole has guided this whole thing, he has a vision and we believe it's a good one and we're backing it in."
