Cooper Energy reported an unaudited third quarter net profit of $6.3m and accrued cash reserves of about $19m.
The profit result was 50% higher than the total audited half year net profit to 31 December 2004 of $4.2 million, boosted by record production for the quarter of 130,962 barrels of oil, up 43% on the second quarter, and higher received oil prices.
Cooper Energy CEO Mike Scott said that production was at 1,400 to 1,600 barrels of oil per day, well above initial forecasts, as the Worrior field was running at maximum production.
"We are expecting the Christies field to be running at maximum production during the next quarter, following the commissioning of the Tantanna offload facility later this month," Scott said.
"If the oil price, Australian dollar and production remain static, Cooper is on track to record a net profit before tax in excess of $13 million for the full year.
"This figure even allows for the full write off of the two upcoming wells, Kitson-1 and Redbank-1.”
Cooper Basin oil is fetching a premium. It is benchmarked against the Tapis price, a light sweet crude price for oil traded in the Asian region, according to Scott.
The company was looking forward to its upcoming Cooper Basin drill program, starting with the potentially large wildcat well, Kitson 1, scheduled to spud on 3 May.
Kitson-1 is located in PEL88 about 200 km north-northeast of Moomba in South Australia. It will test two structures with assessed potential undiscovered mean recoverable reserves of 5.2 million barrels of oil.
Scott said Kitson was the first of a now expanded possible 10 well program that had been prioritised from a large number of prospects identified from interpretation of seismic data shot during 2004.
"The upcoming 2005/2006 drilling program will provide investors with leverage to potential undiscovered recoverable reserves of 23.8 million barrels of oil," he said.
Partners in Kitson are Cooper Energy Limited (30%), Sundance Energy Australia Limited (45%), Enterprise Energy NL (10%), Victoria Petroleum NL (10%) and Liberty Petroleum (Inc) (5%).
