Under the package, international investment and advisory firm Babcock & Brown has arranged an equity investment in Coogee.

Financial close has also been completed on a US$270 million debt facility from a syndicate comprising The Royal Bank of Scotland and divisions of the National Australia Bank and the UniCredit Group.

Coogee chief executive Peter Hood said this morning the company had taken advantage of the strong oil price to complete a hedging program for its Montara production.

“On many levels, our timing is very opportune,” he said.

“We have aligned ourselves with a strong new shareholder and debt syndicate, the oil price has recovered strongly over the past six months, and we continue to deliver on key project development milestones critical to Montara’s success.”

Coogee said Montara was on schedule for first production in the third quarter 2008.

The project, comprising the Montara, Skua and Swift-Swallow oil fields, has proven and probable (2P) reserves of 36.9 million barrels (MMbbl) of oil.

The company also owns a 71% stake in and operates the Jabiru and Challis oil fields, which have 2P reserves of 4.9MMbbl and are also in the Timor Sea.

A four-year, 11-well exploration drilling program is expected to start in December on the company’s Sea Eagle AC-P34 prospect, which is targeting 2P resources of 5MMbbl.

The company recently received a production licence for the Skua and Swift-Swallow fields in addition to the already granted Montara production, and has awarded the contract for the construction of the well-head platform.

Other Montara project milestones include signing a contract with Seadrill to secure a jack-up rig for 12 months, appointing all key development staff, and executing a finance lease for a floating, production storage and offtake vessel with Tanker Pacific Offshore Terminals in Singapore.