Releasing its results today for the six months to 31 December, 2004, Beach Petroleum also reported a 66% increase in total revenue to $30.38 million, up from $18.27 million in the corresponding period from the previous year.
The higher profit – up 111% from the $4.4 million achieved in the previous corresponding half year – is only $700,000 below the company’s record 2003-2004 full year earnings of $9.9 million, said Beach Petroleum managing director Reg Nelson.
“This is a most pleasing half year result, boosted by our increasing production interests and higher world oil prices,” Nelson said.
“Coinciding with the continuing high oil price environment was our successful addition of five new oil production wells during the period, with the two new Christies wells alone adding a further 600,000 barrels of oil to the company’s reserves,” Mr Nelson said.
“Beach has achieved a balance between healthy and steady production flows, revenue streams and self-funding exploration in an increasingly diverse portfolio of onshore and offshore acreage.”
The interim dividend for the latest period has been doubled to one cent per share from half-a-cent per share paid in each of the previous opening half years.
Earnings per share rose 53% to 3.2 cents, up from 2.08 cents. Production was 3% higher at 479,000 barrels of oil equivalent (boe) up from 464,000 boe, and oil and gas sales rose to 495,000 boe up from 395 kboe
Beach’s reserves as at 31 December 2004 were about 10.7 million barrels, substantially higher than the 4.3 million barrels reported at 30 June 2004 – an increased in proved and probable recoverable oil reserves of 5.8 million barrels .
This was achieved largely through the acquisition in October of a 25% interest in the Basker, Manta and Gummy oil and gas fields in the offshore Gippsland Basin, Victoria. The Basker and Manta fields are scheduled for development as producing oil fields during 2005-2006.
Beach Petroleum last month announced that it would participate in a record 16 wells in the current second half of the year in several regions – the South Australian Cooper Basin, the Eromanga Basin in Queensland, the offshore Carnarvon Basin in Western Australia, and the offshore Otway and Gippsland Basins in Victoria.
