Key Highlights

  • Beach Energy has entered binding agreements to take a 50 per cent interest in ATP 2044 and ATP 2077-A&B and a 25 per cent interest in ATP 2056 and ATP 2057.
  • Beach will pay A$25 million in cash on completion and fund A$90 million of Elixir's share of work program costs over about four years.
  • Completion is expected in the second half of the 2027 financial year and remains subject to conditions, including Santos pre-emptive rights over two permits.

Beach Energy Limited (ASX:BPT) has entered binding agreements with Elixir Energy Limited and its subsidiaries to farm into half of Elixir's core interests in the Taroom Trough, a gas and condensate province in Queensland. Beach would take a 50 per cent interest in permits ATP 2044 and ATP 2077-A&B, and a 25 per cent interest in ATP 2056 and ATP 2057. It would also become operator of ATP 2044 and ATP 2077-A&B. Completion is expected in the second half of the 2027 financial year and remains subject to conditions.

Price and structure

Beach will pay A$25 million in cash on completion. In addition, it will fund A$90 million of Elixir's share of exploration and appraisal work program costs, including general and administrative expenses, over about four years from completion. Beach decides the work program and how the carry is spent. Any carry not spent by the end of the farm-in period is payable to Elixir in cash.

The agreements also create an area of mutual interest, allowing both parties to take part in further acreage acquisitions within a defined area during the farm-in period, subject to conditions including existing pre-emptive rights.

Acreage and resources

The acquired permits total 2,859 square kilometres gross, which equates to about 1,009 square kilometres net to Beach. Before the deal, Beach held 472 square kilometres net in the Basin through ATP 2081 and ATP 2082, both operated by Omega Oil and Gas. After completion Beach says it would hold 1,481 square kilometres net, about 366,000 net acres, across 4,747 square kilometres gross. The acquired acreage lies on the western flank and in the central part of the trough, roughly 20 to 120 kilometres south-east of the Wallumbilla Gas Hub.

Beach referred to Elixir's previously published, independently certified 2C contingent resource of about 3.5 trillion cubic feet equivalent, net, across the stacked plays in the acreage. That figure is Elixir's estimate and not a Beach booking. Beach Energy (ASX:BPT) expects to book an initial 2C contingent resource as part of its FY27 reserves process, and its presentation elsewhere targets an initial booking for ATP 2081 by the end of FY27. Contingent resources are not reserves.

Existing activity

In the Omega-operated permits, where Omega holds 45 per cent, Beach 25 per cent and Tri-Star Group 30 per cent, a two-vertical-well campaign is under way in ATP 2081, which was awarded in February 2026. Results are expected in the second quarter of FY27. Subject to those results, there is an option to drill a lateral, stimulate it and run an extended well test in the same quarter, and planning for a 2D seismic survey is in progress. ATP 2082, awarded in September 2026, is slated for four vertical wells in FY28.

Conditions and risks

Santos holds pre-emptive rights over ATP 2056 and ATP 2057. If Santos exercises them, Beach would not acquire those interests and the carry would be reduced for each affected permit. Completion also requires customary regulatory approvals and other conditions. Tenure renewal applications are pending for ATP 2044 and ATP 2057, and retaining the permits depends on meeting work commitments, so acreage may change slightly.

Beach describes appraisal of the basin as early stage, with the most prospective regions and horizons not yet identified by industry. Future activity depends on finalising work programs and on government, joint venture and board approvals. Total spending will depend on the scope of the program Beach chooses.

What comes next

The milestones given are completion, expected in the second half of FY27 subject to the conditions above, and the results of the two ATP 2081 wells in the second quarter of FY27.