South Australian oil and natural gas company Beach Energy delivered a $345.1 million loss in the first half, with impairments to its Cooper Basin assets in the state’s northeast weighing heavily on the listed company.

During the half, the company achieved sales revenue of $941 million – up 16 per cent on the first half of FY23 – supported by the early shipments of gas from its new West Australian LNG fields.

Were it not for the $721 million impairment charge – largely attributed to an increase in capital expenditure at the Cooper Basin – as well as other expenses, the company would have recorded a $488 million profit.

Production of gas was also lower in the half by 11 per cent, largely driven by lower customer gas requirements according to Beach.

Newly appointed managing director and CEO Brett Woods said the first half results “demonstrated solid operating and financial performance”.

“It is a privilege to have joined Beach at what is an exciting time for the company. We are close to completing major projects which will deliver material volumes of new gas supply to domestic and global markets. This near-term growth outlook and our sound financial position sets us apart from our peers,” Woods said.

“The past six months saw several milestones achieved. On the East Coast, we were pleased to conclude negotiations with Origin for the Otway Basin price review and a new agreement for the sale of Enterprise gas.

“In the West, the first Waitsia LNG cargo and a one-off Waitsia condensate cargo were key highlights. While construction of the Waitsia Gas Plant continues, our strategy to mitigate past challenges by storing surplus gas from the Xyris Gas Plant allowed us to fill an early LNG cargo and benefit from strong market prices.”

He added that drilling continued in the Cooper Basin during the half and achieved an overall success rate of 91 per cent from 45 wells, including two new oil and gas discoveries.

Shares in Beach Energy are up 3 per cent at the time of writing.