Ann: FY20 First half results and outlook investor presentation, page-2

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Gas to flow from Cooper's Sole project by March

Cooper Energy will start supplying the first gas from its Sole project into the eastern gas pipeline by March, and from April will deliver on contracts to customers, including AGL Energy, Visy and glassmaker O-I Australia.

The $355 million project off the Victorian coast was originally due to start commercial sales in July, but was delayed twice as APA Group completed work on a gas treatment plant and bushfires in East Gippsland threatened the facility.

Cooper Energy's Sole gas project off the coast of Victoria. SuppliedCooper Energy chief executive David Maxwell said customers had not sought penalties for the delay. "The net cost to us has been very, very low.

We've kept our customers informed," he said.The company announced in its interim results that it expects sales will be 68 terajoules (TJ) per day but will revise full-year guidance for the project once production starts.

Cooper Energy also announced the Annie gas field, in the Otway Basin offshore Victoria, would produce an estimated 8.9 million barrels of oil equivalent (MMboe).

The discovery of the field was disclosed in September.

Cooper said net profit after tax rose to $6.3 million, although it reported an underlying loss of $2 million."[The loss] is somewhat immaterial given the commencement of production at Sole will lead to production and earnings growth from this half," JPMorgan analyst Mark Busuttil wrote in a note.

Cash flow from operations were significantly higher, with the company netting $31.4 million from ordinary trade, up from an operational cash outflow of just under a million dollars in the first half of last year.

Revenue from ordinary activity increased by 8 per cent to $39.1 million.Cooper plans to issue revised guidance for fiscal 2020 production after Sole gas supply has commenced. It expects to record substantial growth in production, revenue and cash generation in the six months to 30 June.

Production guidance for existing producing assets of about 1.2 MMboe for fiscal 2020 was reaffirmed.Mr Maxwell said he did not expect Cooper Energy to be affected by the collapse in the gas price in the east coast market as most of its contracts for the next two years were sewn up.

Capital expenditure forecasts for the year were trimmed. Cooper Energy sees fiscal 2020 capex to be $86 million to $93 million, down from $100 million to $110 million.

It expects capex to be $22 million to $27 million in the first half of 2021.Shares in Cooper Energy closed down 5.5 per cent at 51¢ on Monday