Ann: Beach Energy Ltd FY24 Results Presentation, page-30

A disappointing day for BPT holders given that many, including this one, quite reasonably believed all the bad news in relation to reserves and Waitsia had been exhausted at the strategy day. Below is an interesting exchange between CEO Brett Woods and an analyst on the results call earlier today (from a transcript) that suggests the worst might really, finally be behind us. Whatever the case, at this point, Woods' honeymoon as new CEO is most definitely over.
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Saul Kavonic, MST Financial Services Pty Limited, Research Division
Brett, my question just comes, I guess, more to the general outlook. I think the market was hoping for the band aid to be fully ripped off at the strategy day 2 months ago. You've highlighted the -- obviously, the reserves downgrade at Otway here and that buffer headroom at Waitsia moving. But I guess, outside those 2 items, do you think -- do you still consider the outlook that you've put out at the strategy day to be on the more conservative side of things?

And could you perhaps just touch on, have you had a look through what the consensus outlook is? Because when I look at, for example, VA consensus, they still got 26 or so million barrels of production in FY '26, where I think you indicated only 2 months ago, you'd probably top out closer to 25 million. So just how you're thinking about where market expectations are versus the conservatism of your outlook?

Brett Kenneth Woods, MD, CEO & Director
Yes. So I think in terms of FY '25, I think we've done a lot of work with the market to make sure that we get consensus as close to where we -- where we are responsible. So I think I'm very comfortable where the market sits FY '25. I think my comments about where production will top out, I think, well, are still valid. So I don't have any particular concerns about that piece. And so that's obviously less than that number you mentioned before. And I'm not sure what analysts suggested that.

But the -- I think the issue you're kind of alluding to is the band aid fully ripped off. Obviously, this has been a very disappointing outcome for Enterprise for me. What I've tried to do is move as fast as I can [ as soon as ] I saw something that didn't feel in line with what we've been -- what was out in the markets lens. So we've effectively had to do a double step on getting that one fully resolved and pulled through.

So I'm very comfortable where we are as a business now, making sure that I think the market is fully informed across all our assets. I really don't see much downside to our business at all. Our current production for this calendar year is looking excellent given the winter we're seeing in Victoria. So we're seeing really strong production and our assets standing up. And, you will see that through the AEMO data. Excellent production we're getting out of our Victorian assets.

So we haven't seen any downside across any of our portfolio. And it's always good when you have a look at your daily production profile and every asset and everything is green and has been green all year. So I think there is a healthy level of conservatism associated with our numbers that are currently in the market.

Saul Kavonic, MST Financial Services Pty Limited, Research Division
And just a follow on to that. Obviously, you've come in and Bill has come in. Any reserve changes going forward? I know I'm asking the same question again. But are you really confident now and is Bill really confident now in the 2P numbers you have out there? And so if there's a downgrade, I mean, does the market now hold you and Bill responsible from anything from here? Whereas up to this date, we can say, well, this is what you've -- the hand of cards you've been dealt coming in.

Brett Kenneth Woods, MD, CEO & Director
Yes. And I've felt personally very focused on understanding every molecule that we have in our portfolio. So I have gone, and hence, put a lot of focus in understanding where we were. I didn't want to go to the market with an overstatement of reserve reductions absolutely. So I feel very comfortable that we're -- that I can stand behind everything moving forward in terms of our 2P numbers across our portfolio. I think the ultimate test across the full portfolio is probably when we bring Waitsia online. But the Waitsia numbers for me, we've taken reductions previously. They look very solid. We're getting good well outcomes. So Waitsia online is probably the biggest test for us in our kind of currently not in production, major reserve piece. But the numbers look solid for me and I'll be obviously standing behind what we've taken through audit and the numbers moving forward. So, yes, so you can blame me for anything moving forward.