By Raquel Mustillo
BEACH Energy has slashed the value of its South Australian Otway Basin reserve, with the company writing down $117m in petroleum, as well as exploration and evaluation assets in the Limestone Coast.
The company’s recently released 2021 annual report notes the planned suspension of operations at the Katnook Gas Plant due to low gas volumes and lower than originally expected economic ultimate recovery of gas for the Haselgrove field has contributed to an $81.7m impairment expense for Beach.
A further $35.3m has been written down against the value of petroleum assets for the South Australian Otway.
The non-cash, pre-tax impairment follows the reassessment of the value of further activity on the asset after longer-term production results from Haselgrove were less than projected.
Beach Energy’s full year revenue was $1519m – down 9.6pc – while the company posted a net profit of $316.5m – down 36.6pc.
Earlier this year, Beach announced it would indefinitely suspend operations at the recently redeveloped $22m Katnook Gas Plant as of this financial year.
The gas plant, which was funded by a $6m contribution from the Federal Government’s Gas Acceleration Program, was commissioned in January last year and processes raw natural gas from the nearby Haselgrove-3 well.
A Beach Energy spokesperson said the company remained committed to natural gas production in the South Australian Otway Basin and the Dombey seismic survey was expected to start this year.
“This survey will help identify potential future development opportunities, with the aim of re-supplying local gas through the Katnook Gas Processing Facility,” the spokesperson said.
The annual report notes the South Australian Otway operations contributed to 1pc of the company’s production, with net production 0.3 million barrels of oil equivalent (MMboe).
Production in 2020/21 was up 77pc over the previous 12 months, with the company reporting 0.2 million barrels of oil equivalent (MMboe) in the South Australian Otway in 2019/22.
