GMP's Perth-based oil and gas analyst Scott Simpson said a meeting with Cole last Thursday revealed what attracted the executive to Beach and the strategic direction of the company.
"Overall, the strategy will see Beach continue to play to its competitive advantage in the Cooper Basin," Simpson said.
Beach would execute this strategy, Simpson said, by maximising oil production and using its technical capabilities to generate ongoing opportunities and leverage off a solid outlook for the east coast gas markets via its South Australian Cooper Basin joint venture interest and hope to work more collaboratively with Santos.
Beach will also review the initial results from the Nappamerri Trough Natural Gas (NTNG) project and attempt to bring in an additional partners, look for additional gas opportunities and exit its international portfolio.
"With oil production peaked in 2014 and earnings in decline we think Beach will likely need to look at new opportunities to grow the business - both organically or potentially via the much discussed aggregation of its peers," Simpson said.
"However, given the challenges of acquisitions and while buying more of the same would add immediate scale it would not sole the longer term growth issue.
"Hence we think Beach will need to look beyond the Cooper Basin, to other east coast gas opportunities and potentially in the Australasian region for growth."
Chevron advised Beach last week of its decision not to proceed to Stage 2 of the NTNG, citing that despite having confirmed a large gas resource and potential for further appraisal that the opportunity did not align strategically with Chevron's global exploration and development portfolio.
Simpson said that while Chevron's decision to walk from the NTNG project was largely anticipated by the market and GMT Securities carries little value for the project, any future beyond current studies looks "challenging".
"Beach is underpinned by its quality Western Flank oil production and its cornerstone Delhi gas assets; however with its oil production ultimately in decline post record levels, the key challenge for Beach will be to better leverage its cash flows to achieve longer term growth," Simpson said.
"We believe it may need to look beyond the Cooper Basin to wider east coast gas opportunities to realise this growth."
These "east coast gas opportunities" are likely to lie in Queensland, given the drilling moratoriums in place in both New South Wales and Victoria.
Beach's latest monthly drilling report also revealed the successful completion of the second set of pad drilled wells at the Bauer oil field, a successful exploration well at Stanleys-1 also in PEL 91 and the start of the Perlubie-3 appraisal well in PEL 92.
Simpson said drilling the second set of pad drilled wells at Bauer was a key highlight, as it was successfully drilled and completed at a time and cost saving to the JV.
"Once tied in, it will assist in sustaining the current high rates of production from the Western Flank," Simpson said.
"While the cost savings from the four-well pad are not an overall large amount [the previous forecast was $5.8 million versus $8 million], the successful implementation of pad drilling is important for the longer-term economics of various Cooper Basin projects."
