據路透社墨爾本報道，澳大利亞第三大獨立石油和天然氣生產商Beach能源周三表示，該公司在2019財年結束時的現金儲備比預期的要多，并計劃加大鉆探支出，同時密切關注收購。

在資產出售以及擴大投資組合帶來的強勁現金流的幫助下，Beach能源僅在18個月內就償還了收購Lattice能源的16億澳元（合11億美元）債務，這比原計劃早了兩年。

該公司總經理Matt Kay表示，截至6月30日，公司的凈現金為1.72億澳元，未提取的信貸設施有6.22億澳元，這筆錢可用于更多的勘探和生產鉆探。

該公司在季度生產報告中表示，年產量增長55%，至2940萬桶石油當量，略高于公司預測的最高值。

Kay在接受路透社采訪時說：“如果你看一看我們的業務表現，我們全年的鉆井成功率仍然高達84%。所以，你會看到我們對業務進行了絕對的再投資。”

該公司2019財年的資本支出為4.47億澳元，略低于其預測。

分析師表示，為了保持其強勁的增長態勢，另一項收購將對Beach能源極具吸引。

伍德·麥肯齊分析師David Low表示：“如果是這樣，我們認為收購具有液化天然氣或東海岸天然氣市場的資產將是該名單上的優先事項。”

Kay不排除進一步收購，他稱：“從收購的角度來看，我們目前肯定沒有處于絕望的境地，我們總是關注機遇。”

今年截止到目前，該公司股價一直是澳大利亞能源生產商中表現最好的，上漲了52%，使Beach能源在6月份躍入了澳大利亞證券交易所100強的指數中。

詹曉晶摘自路透社

原文如下：

Australia's cashed up Beach Energy to step up drilling spend

Beach Energy, Australia’s third-largest independent oil and gas producer, ended the 2019 financial year more cashed up than expected and plans to step up spending on drilling while keeping an eye out for acquisitions, its boss said on Wednesday.

Beach paid off debt on its A$1.6 billion ($1.1 billion) acquisition of Lattice Energy within just 18 months, two years earlier than originally planned, with the help of an asset sale and strong cash flow from its expanded portfolio.

The company ended the year to June 30 with net cash of A$172 million, and with undrawn credit facilities has a warchest of A$622 million, which Managing Director Matt Kay said could be spent on more exploration and production drilling.

Annual output rose 55% to 29.4 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe), just beating the top end of Beach’s forecast, the company said in its quarterly production report.

“If you look at the way our business is performing, we’re still getting an 84 percent success rate on our drilling across the year. So you will see us absolutely reinvest in our business,” Kay told Reuters in an interview.

Capital spending for FY2019 came in at A$447 million, just below its forecast.

Analysts said another acquisition would be tempting for Beach, to keep up its strong growth profile.

“If so, we believe acquiring assets with exposure to LNG or the east coast gas market would be high on the list,” Wood Mackenzie analyst David Low said.

Kay didn’t rule out further acquisitions.

“We’re certainly not in any desperation position from an acquisition perspective at the moment, but we always have an eye out for opportunities,” he said.

However its shares have been the best performer among Australia’s energy producers so far this year, up 52%, catapulting Beach into the Australian stock exchange’s top 100 index in June.