PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Energy major Beach Energy has reported an 8% fall in production for the December quarter, compared with the three months to September, as operations were impacted by maintenance at the Otway gas plant during November.

Production in the December quarter reached 6.2-million barrels of oil equivalent, compared with the 6.77-million barrels of oil equivalent produced in the September quarter.

Sales revenue for the December quarter also declined by 5% on the back of lower production, to A$344-million, down from the A$361-million in the September quarter, with sales volumes also declining by 8%, from 6.98-million to 6.44-million barrels of oil equivalent.

“In what was a very active quarter for Beach, I am proud of the efforts from our team to stay safe in what we all know was an extremely disruptive year,” said MD Matt Kay on Wednesday.

“The achievement of a final investment decision on Waitsia Stage 2 just before Christmas was a significant milestone, as it makes Beach Australia the newest player in the global liquefied natural gas (LNG) market. We are very excited to be working with our joint venture (JV) partner in expanding the development of the Perth basin.”

Beach and JV partner Mitsui E&P Australia in December committed to the initial funding for the 250 TJ/d Waitsia Stage 2 development, subject to regulatory approvals, assisting Beach in reaching its annual production targets of more than 37-million barrels of oil equivalent by 2025.

The development involves the drilling of up to six wells, construction of a new 250 TJ/d  gas processing facility, planned with preferred contractor Clough, and associated gas gathering infrastructure. Total capital expenditure to first production is expected to be within the range of A$700-million to A$800-million.

A gas processing agreement and related agreements signed with the North West Shelf project participants would enable up to approximately 1.5-million tonnes of LNG a year of Waitsia gas to be tolled and processed into LNG through the North West Shelf facilities in Karratha between the second half of 2023 and the end of 2028.

“Beach expects to commence marketing of LNG at an opportune time, where customers are likely to value reliable supply from high quality de-risked projects, as north Asia markets experience supply constraints during the current northern winter season,” said Kay.