Good morning, and welcome to the Jadestone Energy half-year 2023 results call. My name is Carla, and I will be the operator of today's call. If you'd like to register a question for the Q&A portion of the call, please press star, followed by 1 on your telephone keypad. When asking your question, please ensure your telephone is unmuted locally. To revoke a question, you can press star followed by 2. I would now like to pass the conference over to our host, Paul Blakeley, CEO, to begin. Please go ahead when you're ready.
That's great. Thank you very much, Carla. And ladies and gentlemen, good morning or good afternoon, wherever you are, and welcome to Jadestone Energy's first half 2023 results conference call. I'm Paul Blakeley, CEO, and I'm joined on the call today by our CFO, Bert-Jaap Dijkstra, and by Phil Corbett, Investor Relations Manager. In this call, we'll take you through a presentation which was recently uploaded to the investor relations section of our website, or you can view it via the link on the webcast. And after that, let's open the call for some Q&A discussion. So turning first to the usual slide 2, which outlines our standard disclaimers, and in particular, the cautionary remarks regarding forward-looking statements and non-IFRS measures that are used in the presentation. And then on to slide 3.
I have to say, it's good to open this webcast with the news that Montara production was restarted earlier this month and has averaged around 6,250 barrels a day during the period. This follows the identification of the defect between tanks and the small enhancement to our inspection processes, which I'll touch on later, will take care of this. A clear priority now is to safely maximize uptime at the asset while progressively restoring storage tank capacity. Significant progress continues to be made at Akatara year to date, with the project now over 61% complete and still on track for commercial gas sales in the first half of next year.
At the East Belumut drilling campaign, offshore Malaysia, the first well has come in ahead of expectations and is now on stream, and adding barrels into a $90+ environment, which is great for us. This follows a successful drilling campaign at Sinphuhorm, earlier in the quarter, where production continues at maximum quantity. I also want to mention our recent safety performance and take a moment to certainly recognize that during this period, 2023, we have had some excellent outcomes. There is a lot of challenging activity within tanks at Montara with drilling programs and a major project at Akatara, with up to 1,100 personnel on site, and all of this with no lost time incidents and more than 2.5 million man-hours worked on the project so far.
Safety is a core value at Jadestone, but something we do not take for granted. So it's great to see this, and my congratulations go to everyone working at our sites. During the latter part of last year and into this first half of this year, we've continued to look to grow and diversify the business with new acquisitions, having closed CWLH late last year, but completed the funding of its decommissioning obligations this year, and then adding Sinphuhorm in February. This has been a great addition to the portfolio, enhancing our borrowing base and adding low emissions gas production. Output from the field has been consistently above the contract quantity and recently enhanced with a successful infill drilling campaign to be supported by additional booster compression, which will complete in 2024.
We strengthened the balance sheet in May by signing the RBL, and further reinforced it with proceeds from a June placing as we move into a period of maximum investment until Akatara comes on stream. Once that happens, we can expect a rapid deleveraging through the second half of 2024, with the ultimate aim of returning to a net cash position in 2025, if not sooner. But for more details on this and an update on our financial performance year to date, I think best to hand over to Bert-Jaap. Thanks, Bert-Jaap.
Thank you, Paul, and good morning or afternoon, excuse me, to all of you. Over to slide four, please. As referenced in the July trading update, the loss in the first half of the year was driven by lower revenues due to the shutdown and subsequent ramp-up period of Montara, which impacted sold volumes, combined with lower price realizations for the period. Montara lifted one cargo in the first half, with the second lifting of approximately 300,000 barrels of oil occurring early in July this year. Of the $139 million decrease in revenues when comparing to H1-2022, lower lifted volumes explained $90 million and lower price realizations around $48 million. We have included details on price realizations as well as our hedging program in support of our RBL in the appendix of this presentation.
The decrease in revenues primarily explained the negative operating cash flow before tax and working capital movements of $24 million for H1 2023. Based on our projected lifting schedule and prevailing oil prices, we expect to deliver a significantly better financial performance in the second half of this year. At the end of June, the company carried a net cash balance of $8 million. I will go into a bit more detail on cash flow and sources and uses shortly. Slide 5. With respect to operating costs, we show the waterfall chart from reported gross operating costs to adjusted production costs. We're taking reported adjustments consistent with our financial statements, while noting that we carried through a relatively small change in methodology for pipeline tariffs in Peninsular Malaysia, which were not excluded in H1 2022, but subsequently were in full year 2022 and in H1 2023.
We make these adjustments to provide a view on the field level cost of production, which we believe is a more, is more useful for our stakeholders than reported costs. I won't go through each adjustment now, as they are detailed in our financial statements, but we're, of course, happy to take any questions offline. Adjusted reported operating costs for H1 2023 totaled $82 million. On the right-hand side of the chart, we compare adjusted cost of this period to the reported adjusted cost of H1 2022, and we note that CWLH was added in the second half of 2022, and as such, only contributed cost in H1 2023. The conclusion from the analysis is that on a like slide basis, adjusted costs show a small increase for H1 2023 compared to the same period last year.
In light of the inflationary environment, the oil and gas industry currently operates in, evidenced, for example, by the significant increase in tanker rates, this demonstrates the focus Jadestone has on keeping costs under control. On slide 6, we present our usual cash flow waterfall chart. There are a few moving parts here I wanted to highlight. First, operating cash flow after tax and before working capital was a negative $29 million, which shows the earlier mentioned impact of lower revenues. Working capital movements represented a negative $30 million, mostly as a result of movements in inventory and underlift positions. After closing on the twenty-second of May, the RBL was drawn for $111 million in the period, which funded Jadestone's ongoing investment program and which was used to redeem the $50 million bridge facility from earlier in the first half.
Cash expenses associated with financing were around $15 million, of which $7 million related to leasing, $5.5 million for fees, mostly related to the RBL, and around $2 million for the share buyback very early in the year. Interest received almost offset interest paid for the period. The June placing generated around $150, sorry, around $51 million of additional net cash. Investment of $92 million in respect of CapEx, Sinphuhorm, and CWLH Abex funding explain the removing movements to arrive at the period end cash balance of $119 million, which resulted in the $8 million period end net cash. On slide seven, we simplify the previous waterfall chart to highlight sources and uses of cash in the period.
This chart shows that the RBL funded Jadestone's growth program in the first half, with CapEx primarily consisting of expenditure on the Akatara project, the acquisition of Sinphuhorm, and the payment related to the CWLH acquisition. The RBL also supported a portion of the working capital movement during the period. As mentioned previously, Sinphuhorm added more borrowing capacity in the RBL than the company paid in cash consideration, demonstrating that our RBL supports the company's growth strategy. Cash balances were used to fund some working capital, negative operating cash flow for the period, and the earlier mentioned financing expenditure.
The chart on slide 8 illustrates that we had total available liquidity of around $230 million at the end of June, consisting of $110 million in unrestricted cash balances, $89 million of available debt capacity in the RBL, and the $32 million working capital facility that we closed in June 2023, which remains unused to date. The RBL capacity is an important consideration here. The September redetermination is well underway, and the RBL technical bank has recommended a debt capacity of around $190 million for the six-month period starting first of October. This capacity compares to around $170 million for the same period in the current banking model. In other words, around $20 million more capacity than was projected previously.
We do note that the model and associated debt capacity are pending bank approvals. The RBL financial covenant, requiring our net debt be less than 3.5 times EBITDAX at 30 June, was met due to our net cash position. On current estimates, this covenant will also be met at the next testing date of 31 December 2023. In line with previous disclosures, debt capacity is projected to significantly decrease following the March 2024 redetermination based on the current banking model. We've mentioned previously that there are several options we are exploring, including the CapEx add-back mechanism, adjusting Stag's negative contribution in the banking model, raising the Akatara development cap, and/or execute additional opportunistic hedging. Most of these options require bank approvals, and as such, we're working with the RBL banks on potential solutions.
The debt capacity in the second quarter and third quarter of 2024 is a top priority, and we will come back with more news if and when we can. On slide 9, we have updated our net debt projections from June for the equity raise proceeds, current oil prices, actual hedged volumes, and the recent Montara shutdown. All other parameters have been kept constant, as we have not been through another formal budgeting cycle. Two important notes need to be made here. First, the year-end net debt projections will change, for example, with the 2024 work program and budget, a process which has just started. The approved 2024 and 2025 work programs could result in significantly different work scope, phasing thereof, and associated budgets. Second, Jadestone's year-end net debt positions can be significantly impacted by the phasing of liftings and working capital movements.
In other words, we are confident in the direction of travel, but remember, projections can and do change. These projections also include around $48 million cash payments to Jadestone, relating to a prior joint ventures partner's share of future development activities. The first installment was received in September 2023, with the remaining balance expected to be received in early 2024. As at 30 June 2023, all transactions are recorded on the balance sheet, and more detail can be found in the financial statements. The conclusion of this chart is consistent with the version from June 2023, in that we expect to be in a net cash position around the first half of 2025, and possibly sooner. This highlights the strong cash generation forecasted in the near term, particularly from Akatara, which is recovering historical costs immediately following first gas.
Over to Paul for the operational update.
That's super. Thank you, Bert-Jaap. Very clear, very helpful. So now let's move on to slide 10, and we'll start with an update on Montara. While disappointing to have to shut in Montara production again at the end of July, the communication point between tanks 4S and 5C was quickly identified, and the simple repair is now well advanced. We have, of course, been asked by a number of investors, and indeed, we've asked ourselves, "Why did this small defect occur so shortly after inspecting both tanks and returning them to service?" So we conducted a detailed investigation and found that our general processes, our repair methods, and operating practices are all good. But we found one small gap in the inspection methodology, which, of course, we've changed.
The best way to explain this is to point out that firstly, our inspection regime is significantly more rigorous than industry standard, i.e., we follow detailed visual inspections with typically 10 times more ultrasonic thickness checks on the hull and bulkheads within the tanks than is required. This is our standard approach. But secondly, we also do much more than this if we find conditions that warrant it. And this really provides us with a great baseline condition survey of the hull and bulkheads, noting that most areas which require any form of repair are usually as a result of defects that were created over 15 years ago during shipyard conversion, or even earlier, as a result of original service as a trading tanker.
However, there are a series of horizontal braces within the ballast tanks, with small welded grooves along their junction with the bulkhead, and any thin spots in those grooves may have been masked by old paint, or indeed, by the brace itself. And what we've now found is that any defects in these locations can only be resolved by using a different and much finer ultrasonic thickness probe. And so this process has now become our new standard and was implemented already in tank 4P , before it was returned to service, identifying two more minor anomalies, which were subsequently repaired. And so, I have to say that while this additional process is small, it does have far-reaching consequences for our confidence in what we're doing at Montara. And I really hope that this is the breakthrough to get us back on track.
We understand the importance of stakeholder confidence in our tank inspection and repair program on the Montara venture, and we now believe we can move forwards towards a higher performing asset with increasing cash flows and returns. Montara Field's production has averaged 6,250 barrels a day since restart, although currently, it's higher than this, with the benefit of return of the second separator on the FPSO, as well as having all Montara wells in production. Oil is currently being produced into tank 6C, but following the repair that I talked about earlier, we anticipate 5C will be back online around the end of the month, followed by additional ballast capacity shortly thereafter.
We're then back on track to continue work in the FPSO's other tanks as we look to progressively increase crude oil storage, before releasing the small shuttle tanker, which currently provides the additional capacity needed to ensure safe and reliable and continuous production operations. And so moving to slide 11. Let's now move on to an update on Akatara, where we're now over 61% complete on the project scope and expect this to rise to 65% by the end of this month. The images on this slide give a great sense of progress, and I also invite you to download the monthly progress video from our website to really appreciate the high levels of current activity. Importantly, many of the long lead items are now arriving on site, and we have increasing control of all equipment as it gets delivered to the region for integration and installation.
With over 1,100 workers on site and a high proportion of subcontractors, the project is being well managed, both for productivity and safety, which I mentioned earlier. This is extremely good news so far, and we expect to be able to start commissioning the facilities in the first quarter of next year, which will support commercial gas sales delivery to commence in the second quarter of 2024, as we've always said. Slide 12 now, highlights the benefit of reuse of the existing well stock from a previous short-lived oil production project at Akatara. Between June and July, we well tested the Akatara-1 well, which is an existing well, which will be reused as a gas producer, as a gas producer. The intent was to confirm our view of the subsurface parameters, including pressures, volumes, and gas composition.
The well was flowed at various choke sizes at up to 8.5 million cubic feet per day, confirming the gas quality and the volumes required under the gas sales agreement. We also confirmed the potential upside beyond the committed volumes, and which may be monetized in the future through additional gas sales contracts. We'll continue to firm up the timing and extent of these volumes and provide an update to you when appropriate. Now, turning to slide 13. We're also making good progress on the East Belumut drilling campaign in Malaysia. The first well commenced drilling in late August and reached target depths earlier this month.
We encountered just over 10 meters of reservoir at the heel of the well, which is more than prognosed, and drilled an 1,100 meter horizontal section along the top of the reservoir, even encountering areas of original oil water contact, which really gives encouragement for more upside. The well has now been tied into the production facilities and flowed at over 2,800 barrels per day on full choke, well ahead of expectations. This is a great start to program, and the rig has now skidded to the second well location, currently kicking off into the reservoir. We originally expected to deliver 2,000 to 2,500 barrels a day gross production from this program, and I would honestly imagine the first well will settle down at closer to 1,000 barrels a day on a more sustained basis.
So this is a really encouraging start for our first well drilled in our Malaysia assets. It's also worth noting that the drilling program at the non-op Sinphuhorm asset concluded in July, a month ahead of schedule, with Well PH-24 delivering significant incremental production, which helps underpin contractual volumes for the next year or two. The well came on stream at 26 million cubic feet a day, over 40% ahead of expectation, and may allow next year's drilling campaign to be deferred. The field supply contract is for 84 million cubic feet a day gross, with actual sales volumes 15% ahead of this, and likely to be maintained into the future in a region which is short of gas. So good news here also.
Now moving to guidance on Slide 14, where I can confirm that overall guidance measures all remain within the original ranges, though we have signaled a move to the lower part of the production range, primarily, of course, due to the recent Montara unplanned outage. Operating costs, as discussed by Bert-Jaap earlier, have been well managed within range, notwithstanding the current inflationary environment. Capital has been brought to the lower end of guidance as we've deferred small amounts of long lead equipment orders for future projects. Well, activity at Akatara may also be rephased, with some in early 2024, and progressively, we've also removed contingency as project activity has unfolded during the year. Overall, this is a good outcome and credit to the many people in the organization working hard to deliver on our promises.
Now finally, to Slide 15, where I'll conclude with some thoughts on where the business stands today. We do believe that progress on fixing a small inspection gap on Montara is a big step forward in managing the tank program there. This will give increased confidence in asset performance, and it is the absolute priority within the organization today. We hope that over time, this will translate to higher uptime performance at Montara, growing returns, and help to restore investor confidence. Equally, good progress at Akatara is providing an increasing probability of delivering first gas on schedule, and the added benefit of some incremental sales due to reserves upside is something we'll work hard to unlock, too.
We've already talked about drilling successes, but we're also planning a three-well workover campaign at Stag to commence at the end of this month, looking to restore almost 1,000 barrels a day of production. We haven't discussed Vietnam today, and while progress has been slow, following some high-level meetings within government, we believe we are close to finalizing a gas sales heads of agreement with PV Power, and we hope to be able to report on this in due course. All this activity should see an improved second half of the year. And with Akatara on stream next year, a more rapid deleveraging the balance sheet and return to net cash, as Bert-Jaap described earlier.
We will use this near-term significant growth in cash generation to continue to assess high-quality acquisition opportunities, those that can be afforded by cash flow and debt, with a focus on cash-flowing assets that will naturally expand the RBL borrowing base. I hope that over time, the quality of a much larger business, the cash generative capacity that it delivers, and the greater resilience of multiple producing assets within the portfolio, will restore confidence sufficiently to see the stock re-rate to where it should be and provide an appropriate reward for the patience of our investor base. Thank you for listening, and with that, can I hand back to the operator for questions?
Thank you. If you'd like to ask a question today, you may do so by pressing star, followed by one on your telephone keypad. To revoke your question, please press star followed by two. When preparing for your question, please ensure your phone is unmuted locally. We will now take our first question from David Round, from Stifel. David, your line is now open. Please go ahead.
Great. Thanks, guys. I've got a couple, please. Firstly, just on the RBL, can you just explain why the available debt has increased, please? Is that just price driven? And can you remind us what price decks the banks are using? And secondly, just on CWLH, you've talked in the past about being excited about the opportunities there. Have there been any, I suppose, meaningful discussions with partners there around increasing activity? Thank you.
Great. Thanks. Thanks, David. I'll let Bert-Jaap speak to the RBL. And I'll just very briefly touch on CWLH and perhaps do that first. So, of course, as a minor partner, we are nonetheless excited about the opportunity, but have to, and will, and are working closely with the partner group. I'd say, you know, broadly speaking, this is a partner base who, you know, don't have a long-term view of the asset. And so I think, you know, we have to find a way to take advantage of that.
Whilst I can't say anything about that at this point in time, we are working hard on the principle that, with more control and influence on the asset, we could re-release what we see as a very significant sub-surface prize. Not much to say now, David, but I hope more to say in the future. RBL, Bert-J aap, to you.
Yeah, sure. Thanks, thanks for the question. On the RBL, there's a few, a few effects. First of all, it's indeed rolling forward of the price deck. There have been, you know, a few assumptions that we have modified in the model going forward, which is currently indeed pending approvals with the banks. One is on an Australian tax element that we believe that we can feed through. It's too much detail, I think, to go and explain exactly the details behind it, but that was one of the elements that took a bit of a positive on this period. Around the price deck, I'll confirm that.
Right now, the 2023 is the oil price is $67, 2024 is $62, and thereafter, $58 per barrel. That does not include, of course, the premium that we're assuming in the model, which are, of course, based on call it long-term expected prices, with some additional information around more recent listings. So then, and of course, rolling that forward, that that helped as well on the RBL capacity for this this period going forward.
Okay, thanks. A quick follow-up then, just on the RBL. Regarding the dip in Q2, Q3 next year, I mean, you're in discussions. Is an outcome to those discussions imminent? Are we expecting that soon among, you know, with this redetermination, or is that something that we're probably gonna have to wait until early next year to see?
It's fair to say that we've been working this, you know, the moment we started closing the RBL on the 22nd of May. We've worked it with the banks. There's a, you know, very constructive discussions ongoing. We were then, of course, taken by surprise, as the banks were, as everybody was, shareholders alike, with the short-lived Montara shutdown, a bit over 30 days. And of course, that caused a bit of a setback, if you will, in that process of managing or seeking to manage that dip. We do have one element that we're trying to sort out in this redetermination, which could mean that the outcome of the redetermination as we're projecting it here, it could change. But this is what we know today.
This is a recommended model, and we'll, we'll just need to take it from there because, the banking model, and any potential adjustments are, of course, pending bank approvals. The deadline is thirtieth of September, and we're, you know, we're working it with the banks as we speak, and we need to wait for the outcome to come through.
Okay, great. Thanks, guys.
Welcome.
Thanks, David.
Thank you, David. Our next question is from Matt Cooper, from Peel Hunt. Matt, your line is now open. Please go ahead.
Thanks, and good morning. So three questions from me, please. So first one, is there now a need to reinspect all the Montara tanks using the finer scale ultrasonic probe method that you mentioned?
Hi, Matt. I'd say what we found is this particular issue is only in areas where there is the sort of horizontal braces against the bulkheads. And that's largely in the water ballast tanks. And so certainly there are a number of tanks going forward as we get into inspection, we'll apply this. It's not universal and typically not in the central tanks. So it's going to be something that we will certainly make a standard part of our procedure, but it doesn't apply everywhere. Okay?
Okay. Okay, thanks. Then, just to get a bit more of a sense of the outperformance at the East Belumut infill, if the well stabilizes at 1,000 barrels a day, how much would this be above your previous estimate for that well? Also, does this result increase the chance that the other three infills this year could also come in above expectations?
Thanks, Matt. I mean, firstly, with, you know, with respect to performance of the well, in our original planning, we thought stabilized rates would be in the 500-700 barrels a day range. So, this is looking, you know, well ahead of that. We'll see how long the high rates persist. But certainly we see this at a more sustainable rate, well ahead of our plan. With respect to the, you know, the indications or the implications on the other wells, so from a geological perspective, there isn't any. The four wells that we plan to drill... No, two wells going into a similar part of the reservoir to be able to sort of rely on any, you know, local, you know, geological knowledge.
I can't, you know, I can't say that this is a signal for the others at all. Except, I mean, it is possible that the techniques and the methodology used by the team, you know, may provide, you know, some similar upside, but we're not gonna count on that right now. Okay?
Got it. Got it. That's helpful. Thank you. And then final question, you know, given the progress today at Akatara, and that, you know, we're kind of now mid-September, can you give any kind of more of an indication of when in 1H next year you expect first gas?
Matt, to be honest, we prefer not to. You know, it's all tracking really well. We're really happy. We have a high confidence that we'll be on schedule and meet contractual sales volumes at the right time. But let's get a little bit further ahead, and I promise we'll give you, you know, more detail and more certainty in due course.
Fair enough. Worth a try. Okay, great. Well, with that-
I appreciate it. Thanks a lot, Matt.
Thank you, Matt. Our next question is from Mark Wilson, from Jefferies. Mark, your line is now open. Please go ahead.
Thank you, gents. A couple of clarifications from me. So, Bert, on the $20 million improvement in RBL availability, that's expected to be in this current redetermination, the thirtieth of September one, or is it the thirty-first of March? I'm just so I can understand that. And could you just tell me again about those cash receipts you're expecting early in 2024? Thank you.
Sure, Mark. The $20 million increment is in the current proposed model that the tank bank is proposing to their, you know, to all of the banks. It's this period, so it's the first of October, and then the next six months into the end of March, which is where the next redetermination will be, which is also where we are expecting the dip, which is what we just referred to earlier, which is what we're managing. The cash flows that we mentioned earlier is to do with the joint arrangement partner share of EBITDAX, in effect, paying off early, if you will, which is all balance sheet transactions, $12 million received in September, and the remainder due early in next year.
Okay. And which JV was that, Bert?
Um.
We prefer not to share that, Mark, if you don't mind.
Yeah. No, that's fine. That's fine. I just thought you'd mention it. Okay. Okay.
Thanks.
Then the other question is, at Akatara, what is the major operational work stream in order to deliver that first gas timing? What, if you like, what's the main thing to be completed?
Thanks. Thanks, Mark. And I suppose, you know, in line with Matt's question, too, I mean, you know, the one reason I sort of, you know, I hesitate to be more predictive about first gas is because there are still a few, although you know, fewer things that we don't have absolute control over. And so while a lot of long lead items have already arrived on site, and there are clear indications on delivery schedules that all the remainder will be on site well within the timeframe required. Until they're there, I can't take it for granted. And so, you know, that's one element that I still sort of, you know, hold as a slight hesitation to give more certainty about first gas.
You know, notwithstanding, we're doing everything we can, you know, with expediters and, you know, and so on and so on. Until they're on site, I think we'll just be a little bit more cautious. And the second is, we've been making slightly slower progress than I wanted on the relatively short length of pipeline that takes the gas from the processing plant to the tie-in point, on the main trunk line. And again, you know, it's quite solvable. We've had two crews working two locations along the pipeline route. We've just added a third, and we could add a fourth. And so again, you know, once we see that that is looking to come in, on our early schedule plan, again, I think that will give us the confidence.
Those are probably the two things that are still, you know, not quite within our control yet. Okay. Does that help get to the point?
Yeah, that's great. Thank you. And, and then last question. You mentioned you tested Akatara-1 at around 8 million cubic feet a day. Could you just remind us what the, what the sales volumes are, once you're on stream, and the pricing? Thank you.
Fifteen million cubic feet a day sales, contract sales volume. And so already, you know, more than half in one well. And, price, $5.60.
Okay, thank you very much. I'll hand it over.
Great. Thanks a lot, Mark.
Thank you, Mark. As a reminder, to ask a question, please press star followed by one on your telephone keypad. Our next question comes from Nick Linnane, from Sefton. Nick, your line is now open. Please go ahead. Nick, your line is now open. Please go ahead.
Uh.
We will now go to our next question. Our next question is from Ashley Kelty from Panmure Gordon. Ashley, your line is now open. Please go ahead.
Morning, gents, and thanks for the update. Just, just a small one. Most, most of our, our guys have got their questions I had covered off, but I was just wondering, what, what, are the premiums for Australian crudes looking like just now? Have you seen any widening of the spread over Brent, or are they remaining relatively tight?
Thanks. Thanks a lot, Ashley, for the question.
Thanks, Ashley.
Yeah, do you want to, do you want to take that?
Yeah, sure. I can. So on Stag, just to start with the most exciting one, I think, Ashley. We have seen the Stag premiums coming down quite a bit, mostly in line with the specific market for low sulfur, heavy crude. We do think, as mentioned earlier, that there might be a bit of correlation with the underlying Brent price and the premium there. Recently, it's been trending towards $10. We have seen it as high as close to $24 over the past 24 months. It has come down. We need to see what will come next.
When we have the next lifting coming through, we're basically planning now on $10 and above, but it really depends on the macroeconomics and not necessarily anything that we can base our projections on, because it's a very specific market, as you know. Montara premiums traded at slight premiums, call it a couple of dollars, which has been more or less in line with the past. We've seen it, you know, as high as $6 over the past 18 months or so, but it's more trading at a slighter premium, lower premium.
CWLH, as last Australian crude, is trading at a small discount, and we're keeping a close eye on that, because that also has some very specific markers, if you will, for this specific crude, that may come in a bit better. But, we're expecting a small discount on CWLH of, say, $3-$4 a barrel.
Okay, that's great. Thank you.
Okay. Thanks, Ashley.
Thank you, Ashley. Our next question is from Nick Linnane from Sefton. Nick, your line is now open. Please go ahead.
Sorry, trying again. Can you hear me?
Yes, Nick, we can hear you.
Yeah. Loud and clear. Yep. Sorry. Sorry about earlier. I had a couple questions, if that's okay. Can you just say what first half CWLH production roughly was, and when you expect the next lifting for you?
Sure. So I mean, currently production runs at around net for Jadestone, runs at around 2,100-2,200 barrels a day. And it's been, you know, incredibly stable. During the first half of the year, that number will be slightly lower due to two outages. One, due to significant weather outage, and the other a small technical issue which was resolved within a few days. But between the two of them, they'll suppress the first half volumes a little bit, but typically it produces at around, as I say, 2,100-2,200 barrels a day, net to us. And in terms of next offload for Jadestone, it will be in the mid-fourth quarter, so perhaps November, still to be confirmed.
Okay. And at the time of the equity raising, you talked a bit about a potential near-term acquisition. It sounded like there was something specific. Is that still potentially happening, or has that sort of gone away?
Yes. Yeah, we are looking at a number of opportunities, as we talked about earlier. Those that specifically fit well within the criteria that enhances the RBL borrowing base, very supportive and accretive to the borrowing base, which CWLH original interest and the Sinphuhorm acquisition both were. And so those are the sorts of things that we are looking at. And near term, there are a couple which are pretty exciting, and certainly we'd like to think that one of them may, you know, may move forward. We'll talk about that in due course.
Okay. And last one, can you give any sort of forecast or sort of range of when you would expect to have restored enough storage capacity that you could release the tanker?
Yeah. It's an interesting... Yeah, it's an interesting thought, which sort of double-edged sword. You know, it's really important, first and foremost, you know, it's really important that the work we do on the tanks to restore them is not rushed, and that we take this opportunity, and particularly with the recent learning, to ensure that when we bring tanks back online, you know, that's it. And so, we, you know, we won't be rushed, and the tanker provides us, I think, the reassurance or the team, the reassurance, that tank capacity is not a driving factor in, you know, in the work they do. And I think that was a really important point for us.
And while there is a cost, you know, it's not a significant cost, particularly where oil prices are, where they are, and it's an important, you know, it's an important measure that we need to take. So, you know, I'll say that first and foremost. And so, you know, as we look forward into the next series of tank inspections, you know, we have 6C online, and 5C will be returned to service very shortly. As much as anything, the capacity that those tanks hold, available for us isn't governed simply by their size, it's also governed by ballasting conditions.
We need to restore a bit more ballast capacity further forward in the tanker to take full advantage of the capacities of those two tanks, which together are almost 300,000 barrels. You know, as much as the mid-size trading tanker that we're currently using, you know, until we've resolved the sequence of tanks and determined the condition that we find, and therefore the speed with which they return to service, it's hard to be predictive around that. For planning purposes, and we'll see as we pull together our 2024 work plan and budget, we'll see how that shapes up for planning purposes.
You know, I am considering that we should think about, you know, mid-year next year, as a sort of, as a target date. But we won't be held to that. We'll do the right thing for the business to ensure that, tank restoration is thorough, complete, and, you know, and absolutely 100%. Okay?
Okay. Thanks a lot, Paul.
All right.
Thanks, Nick. We have no further questions registered, so with that, I will hand the call back to Paul Blakeley for final remarks.
Great. Thanks so much, Carla. And thank you to everyone for your time today, for being on the line, and for your questions. It's been really helpful. And so, you know, obviously, while we've had challenges at Montara, I really do believe we've found a clearer way forward to restoring reliability there. We are, of course, certainly excited by progress at Akatara and the East development, and very happy for the stability of a broader-based production portfolio. And of course, in a more robust price environment. So you know, just to close, I'd like, I really would like to thank our shareholders for their patience.
And just to reiterate that we are working tirelessly to see them rewarded with a re-rating of the share price over time as confidence is restored and growth also returned to the business. And so with that, you know, thank you once again. I wish you all a great day. Thank you.
This concludes today's call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect your line.