Adelaide company Beach Energy Ltd. has expanded its proposed drilling program for financial-year 2017 to 16 operated wells and up to 42 nonoperated wells following record half-year production plus success in the field and cost efficiencies.
Operated well numbers have increased by three and nonoperated by five wells.
The company says the cost savings and efficiencies will deliver the expanded program at a reduced overall cost with financial-year 2017 capital expenditure now expected to be within the range of $170-185 million (Aus.). Previous estimates were $180-200 million.
Around two thirds of the revised program is discretionary expenditure. The remaining one third will be stay-in-business and committed expenditure on existing assets for maintenance purposes, regulatory commitments, and contractual obligations.
Some of the additional discretionary projects to be undertaken before the end of financial-year 2017 include installation and production facilities in permit ex PEL 91 Western Flank Cooper basin of South Australia to bring the Kangaroo-1 oil discovery on line and provide capacity for future exploration success.
There will also be two follow-up exploration wells in ex PEL 91 for further evaluation of the Birkhead Formation oil play near the kangaroo discovery.
Overall there will be nine Beach-operated exploration wells planned for the financial year.
There will be two development wells drilled in Pennington field also in ex PEL 91 to optimize field commerciality and accelerate production. In total, seven Beach-operated appraisal-development wells are planned.
Up to 42 wells could be drilled in nonoperated areas of the Western Flank along with other nonoperated areas of the company’s South Australian Cooper basin and Southwest Queensland joint ventures.
