Beach Energy delivered its strongest quarterly revenue result on record, with sales rising 41% to A$565 million as production increased 9% to 5.4 MMboe. Waitsia reliability improved, offshore abandonment work was completed and FY27 guidance remained unchanged.
- Record quarterly sales revenue of A$565 million
- Production rises 9% quarter-on-quarter to 5.4 MMboe
- Waitsia returns to approximately 235 TJ/day after delayed restart
- A$96 million Equinox abandonment campaign completed
- FY27 production and capital expenditure guidance maintained
Record revenue puts volume and marketing gains together
Beach Energy Limited (ASX:BPT) opened FY27 with a quarterly sales revenue record, generating A$565 million as production, LNG liftings and realised prices all contributed. Revenue rose 41% from the June quarter, while total sales volumes increased 32% to 6.283 MMboe. The result was helped by two Waitsia LNG cargoes and an additional Cooper Basin oil lifting during the period, rather than production alone.
Production reached 5.392 MMboe, up 9% quarter-on-quarter and including a six-year monthly high in August. The Otway Basin rose 20%, Western Flank output increased 15% and Bass Basin production climbed 55%, with operational performance and restored or new wells driving much of the improvement. The result builds on the Waitsia ramp-up milestone reported in Beach’s FY26 results, but the company has not raised its full-year production target of 19.5 million to 23.0 MMboe.
Waitsia reliability improves despite a delayed restart
The Waitsia Gas Plant averaged a record 219 TJ/day in August and operated above 240 TJ/day gross for 20 days before entering a planned statutory shutdown on 4 September. Restart took longer than expected after several replacement air-cooler plugs failed leak testing, delaying final start-up until 8 October. Since returning to normal operations, the plant has averaged approximately 235 TJ/day, according to Beach.
The Perth Basin joint venture has also approved the A$120 million Waitsia Inlet Compression project, with site work expected to begin in the second half of FY27 and start-up targeted for FY29. Drilling at the Stawellia and Waitsia South prospects is expected to begin in early 2027, subject to approvals and the arrival of long-lead equipment. These projects are intended to support future plant utilisation, but their contribution remains a forward-looking proposition.
Marketing strategy lifts realised prices
Beach’s average realised gas price rose 7% from the previous quarter to A$11.9/GJ, while the average price across all products increased 7% to A$90/boe. Oil realised at A$166 a barrel, down from the unusually strong A$174 recorded in the June quarter, was supported by an approximate US$19-a-barrel premium. The premium had increased to about US$28 a barrel for crude sales executed in the second quarter to date.
Since 1 July, Beach has signed medium-term domestic gas contracts totalling 14 PJ across FY28 to FY30, including its first JKM-linked East Coast contract. The company said the arrangements broaden pricing exposure and provide greater supply and transport flexibility. The Otway Basin gas sales agreement price review, however, remains in arbitration, with the eventual price outcome to be backdated to 1 July 2026.
Abandonment spending falls while development work expands
Quarterly capital expenditure fell 46% to A$129 million, although A$96 million was directed to completing the Equinox rig campaign and offshore abandonment work. Beach says it now expects no further material offshore abandonment spending before the mid-2030s, barring decisions to extend asset lives. That removes a known near-term spending item, while the company still retains full-year capex guidance of A$600 million to A$700 million.
Liquidity stood at A$945 million at 30 September, comprising A$205 million of cash and A$740 million in undrawn committed facilities. Net debt increased to A$425 million, partly reflecting abandonment spending and the A$46 million final dividend paid during September. The A$43.5 million class action settlement is intended to be met from insurance proceeds and, subject to court approval, is not expected by Beach to affect FY27 earnings or cash flow.
Exploration pipeline widens across Queensland and South Australia
Beach and its partners were awarded ATP 2082 in Queensland’s Taroom Trough, adding 1,138 square kilometres of gross exploration acreage and taking the company’s gross Taroom Trough position to approximately 1,888 square kilometres. The award follows the Queensland acreage award covered earlier this year, when Beach also advanced its position in the emerging basin. A two-well campaign at ATP 2081 began after quarter-end, with results expected in the second quarter of FY27.
In the Cooper Basin, Beach participated in 13 wells during the quarter with an 85% overall success rate, while work on the Moomba Central Optimisation project continued after the Moomba Central FID. The project is targeting more than A$400 million in capital and operating cost savings over the life of the Central Fields, net to Beach, and up to A$3 a barrel in lower Cooper Basin unit costs. Elsewhere, Otway nearshore drilling is planned for the first half of FY28, subject to investment and regulatory approvals.
The quarter was not without blemishes: an 18-day maintenance shutdown reduced Moomba CCS captured and stored emissions to 274 ktCO2e, and a contractor’s minor hand injury ended a 21-month recordable-injury-free streak shortly after quarter-end. For Beach, the immediate test is whether Waitsia can sustain its post-restart performance while LNG timing, contract margins and a growing slate of approved or proposed projects begin to determine the shape of the rest of FY27.
Bottom Line?
Beach has started FY27 strongly, but the next quarter should show whether record revenue and Waitsia’s improved rates can be repeated without relying on favourable lifting timing.
Questions in the middle?
- Can Waitsia sustain production near 235 TJ/day after the delayed restart and equipment rectification?
- How will the Otway gas price arbitration affect realised prices once the outcome is backdated?
- Will the new Taroom Trough and Otway campaigns convert into commercially useful supply without stretching FY27 capital?