I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Adam Watson, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director. Please go ahead.
Thank you and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us at today's Half-Year Results Presentation for FY 2025. I'm joined by Garrick Rollason, our CFO, as well as the broader investor relations team. Let me start by acknowledging the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, traditional custodians of the land on which I'm speaking today. First Nations people have taken care of our lands and waterways for the past 60,000 years. We acknowledge and pay our respects to their elders past and present. As always, I'll start today's presentation with a safety share on slide four. As you can see on this chart, the more we talk about safety, the less likely we are to experience injuries. The correlation between interactions and injuries is unquestionable.
One of the recent initiatives to promote interactions is dubbed "For the Things That Matter." When we talk about what matters most to us, prioritizing safety and care becomes second nature. Moving to slide five. Before running through the first half results, I just want to remind everyone why we're excited about the future of APA. The work we've done recently has established very strong foundations. Coupled with the attractive market dynamics, it supports what we believe is a highly compelling investment thesis. We're at the heart of the energy transition. The breadth and size of the opportunity allows us to focus on projects where we know we can deliver strong returns. Our assets are long-life and highly cash-flow generative, helping us deliver healthy EBITDA margins, and we have inflation-linked revenues across the business.
We deliver an attractive distribution yield, supported by a track record of both growing distributions and investing in growth. And we have a strong balance sheet with numerous funding options to support our growth. Moving to the next slide. The key takeaways from today's presentation are threefold. Firstly, having done the work to strengthen our foundations, we're confident in our ability to deliver sustainable growth, including sustainable distribution growth. Today's strong result supports this. And the strength of our business is confirmed by the wide acceptance of the long-term role of gas and how the energy transition more broadly will transpire. Secondly, we're focused on initiatives that will maximize security holder returns. This includes cost reduction initiatives and delivering new growth projects that generate returns well above our cost of capital. Thirdly, we have the business model and the balance sheet to fund growth and maximize value.
We'll spend some time today talking about our funding headroom. We'll note that each year the ongoing inflation-linked earnings growth from our base business provides us with additional funding capacity. When coupled with our DRP and our payout ratio, our annual operating cash flow growth can give us around AUD 700 million per annum of debt funding capacity to support growth CapEx. The cash flows from our new developments then add to this, as too will cost reductions. We'll also confirm that our balance sheet, when coupled with our operating cash flows and DRP, provide ample capacity to fund our AUD 1.8 billion organic pipeline that's underway and also support further growth. The funding of our further growth can be sourced from numerous alternatives, including partnerships with the likes of EDF and Marubeni, which are already well established. As a management team, we have an acute focus on delivering security holder value.
As part of today's results presentation, we'll be running through some of the initiatives that we believe will enhance security holder value going forward. Let's get into the result on slide seven. The key takeaway here is that we've delivered a strong result. Underlying EBITDA is up 9.1%. Excluding the Pilbara acquisition, which is performed in line with expectations, EBITDA was up 4.4%, ahead of inflation. free cash flow was up 3.6%. Distributions continue to grow with our interim distribution at AUD 0.27 per security, and we've reaffirmed our FY 2025 distribution guidance of AUD 0.57 per security, up AUD 0.01 on last year. We've also reaffirmed our FY 2025 EBITDA guidance at between AUD 1.96 billion and AUD 2.02 billion. Most importantly, you can see that we have the business in a strong position to deliver ongoing growth.
This is after a couple of years in investing in the foundations necessary to ensure our business is sustainable and to ensure we have the right capability to execute our strategy. With our foundations established, we're focused on progressing enterprise-wide cost reduction initiatives that will deliver meaningful efficiencies, and with cost growth for the half below inflation, we're already starting to see the benefits of this flow through to our results. Customer demand and recontracting is also strong. On the East Coast, we've filled our order book for winter demand out till 2027. Solid foundations, cost optimization, strong customer demand. This is all translating into a business where we can target year-on-year earnings growth at or above inflation and complement this with additional earnings from our growth developments. On slide eight, we call out some of the momentum behind our growth strategy.
During the year, we've completed construction at both the Port Hedland Solar and Battery Project and the Kurri Kurri Lateral Pipeline. We're now into commissioning and performance testing on both projects, which we expect to complete during the second half of FY 2025. We've also executed new project agreements for the development of the Beetaloo Basin and for new pipelines to support the Brigalow Power Plant. And we're making good progress with our projects in the Pilbara. We remain highly confident about the growth opportunities in this region. We also successfully navigated our way through the regulatory assessment of the South West Queensland Pipeline. The favorable outcome has facilitated our confidence to make further incremental investments in the East Coast gas grid, which we've announced today. Slide nine highlights the strength of our balance sheet. We have ample capacity to fund our existing AUD 1.8 billion growth pipeline.
FFO to net debt is 10.7%, comfortably above our target. At 31 December, this translates into approximately AUD 1.6 billion of funding capacity already available. When we add the capacity generated through our ongoing growth and operating cash flow, our funding capacity is significant. The targeted cost reduction initiatives will provide additional funding headroom on top of that. Moving to slide ten. This slide addresses the priorities our investors have been sharing with us. I won't go through each line, but I'll give you the key points. First is about having confidence in the long-term future of gas. The answer is future Australian gas demand is robust, up to and beyond 2050, and this is strengthened by the role gas power generation is expected to play to maintain security of supply.
Generation demand is being fueled by the growing introduction of renewables, by the growth in electrification, and by the significant expected demand from new industries such as AI and data centers. These are not only our forecasts. This is what the ACCC, AEMO, and other Australian experts are saying, and it should give you confidence that the earnings from our existing assets are sustainable beyond the 2050s. Second is the desire for sustainable growth. There's momentum in our growth strategy. We remain confident that delivering our organic growth pipeline will enable us to further grow our earnings and deliver accretive growth over the long term, and third is about funding the growth pipeline. As I said earlier, we can fund our organic growth and at the same time deliver sustainable ongoing distribution growth. Again, our AUD 1.8 billion pipeline is already fully funded.
The ongoing strength of our earnings and cash flow will provide additional ongoing funding capacity, and we have a number of funding sources available to us as we deliver projects beyond the AUD 1.8 billion. Having the foundations in place, we're now firmly focused on a range of initiatives that will create additional value for security holders, and these are outlined on slide 11. We're in advanced discussions with customers for a range of projects, including our East Coast gas grid expansion, the ongoing development of the Beetaloo, developments in the Pilbara and Mount Isa, contracted gas power generation assets, and electricity transmission projects. They are all on strategy and demonstrate the momentum within the group is strong. Our strategy is compelling, and our focus on markets where we have a competitive advantage allows us to be disciplined and target projects where we can generate returns above our hurdle rates.
In addition to growth, we're focused on what we can control, such as our cost base. We're confident we can deliver meaningful reductions in our cost base across operations, our corporate functions, foundational CapEx, and our stay-in-business CapEx. Our discipline extends to our funding arrangements. We've already demonstrated our preparedness to work in partnerships, including with EDF, who are not only one of the most technically strong energy companies in the world, but they have a significant balance sheet. Finally, we're continually reviewing our portfolio to identify opportunities for asset recycling. This can provide an opportunity to recycle capital and deliver shareholder benefits where certain assets may be better off in the hands of others or in a partnership arrangement with APA. In short, we're confident these initiatives will deliver value accretion and support our focus on delivering sustainable ongoing distribution growth. With that, Garrick will now take you through our financial performance and get deeper into the balance sheet.
Thanks, Adam, and good morning, everyone. I'd like to make three key points today on our half-year results. First, the business has delivered strong earnings growth in the first half, with underlying EBITDA up 9.1% to just over AUD 1 billion. This is the first time that APA has delivered earnings of over AUD 1 billion for a half year. Second, our balance sheet remains strong, and we are well positioned to fund growth along with growing distributions to security holders. And finally, our inflation-linked cash flows, strong customer demand, and disciplined focus on reducing costs means we are well positioned to create value with the organic growth opportunities in front of us.
The underlying activity we are seeing across the business in relation to customer discussions provides us with confidence around the outlook for the group. Moving to our headline financials on slide 13. Underlying EBITDA is up 9.1%, reflecting inflation-linked tariff escalation, strong customer contracting, a full six-month earnings contribution from the Pilbara assets, and cost efficiencies across the business. Pleasingly, underlying EBITDA margin increased to 74.5%, supported by the stronger operating result and corporate cost growth below inflation. free cash flow was up by approximately 4% to AUD 552 million. This reflects higher underlying earnings, partially offset by increased funding costs and unfavorable working capital movements in the half. Moving to slide 14. I'll step through the drivers of our 9.1% uplift in underlying EBITDA compared with the corresponding period. Inflation-linked tariff escalation contributed approximately AUD 31 million of additional earnings. recontracting has again been strong, further contributing to earnings growth.
Digging a little deeper, on the East Coast, there was increased demand from customers for seasonal capacity, inflation-linked tariff escalations, and favorable customer recontracting. Additionally, we received AUD 13 million in insurance proceeds relating to the Moomba Sydney Ethane Pipeline, compensating for lost revenue from Qenos's plant shutdown in February 2023. In FY 2027, following the asset conversion, we expect a recommencement of revenue from this asset. As such, we see the insurance proceeds delivering a largely normalized contribution for the asset. On the West Coast, higher ownership of the Goldfields Gas Pipeline and increased customer demand for storage at Mondarra contributed to higher earnings. The Pilbara energy assets drove strong growth in contracted power generation earnings. We have integrated these assets well, and they are delivering in line with expectation.
This was partially offset by lower availability in the North West power system in Queensland, which had benefited from high availability in prior periods. Finally, corporate costs increased by 2.5%. Pleasingly, we continue to see moderation in our corporate cost growth, with growth below inflation for the period and below the guidance provided at the FY 2024 results. And as Adam mentioned, we have progressed work to optimize APA's cost base with targeted reduction initiatives. Slide 15 summarizes the half-on-half movement in free cash flow, which was up almost 4% to AUD 552 million. The benefit from the uplift in underlying EBITDA was partially offset by some temporary working capital movements and increased interest paid. Looking forward to the full-year result, free cash flow will incorporate a full year of the impact of increased debt funding costs and recommencement of cash tax payments, which will offset underlying EBITDA growth.
Slide 16 takes a look at statutory NPAT. Net profit after tax of AUD 34 million is lower than corresponding period as a result of, one, higher depreciation and amortization due to the inclusion of the Pilbara energy assets, and two, increased net interest. Net interest expense includes an AUD 83 million non-cash recognition of FX losses, reflecting the impact of the discontinuation of the WGP hedge accounting relationship. This is described further in the supplementary financials in the presentation. We also saw higher interest costs through a AUD 35 million increase in the quantum and average cost of debt, and a AUD 30 million increase due to the full six-month contribution of interest on the hybrid securities. Moving to slide 17. I want to take the opportunity to remind you of APA's capital allocation framework. This continues to be a key consideration for our decision-making as we assess our growth opportunities.
The framework is designed to ensure we allocate our free cash flow to those initiatives that can create the most value for our security holders. To that point, I'll outline our approach to funding organic growth on slide 18. Apart from the DRP, APA does not need to issue ordinary equity to fund the identified organic growth pipeline of AUD 1.8 billion over FY 2025 to FY 2027. The AUD 1.8 billion plus includes in-flight and probable growth projects across contracted power generation and gas transmission and storage, as discussed in the FY 2024 results investor presentation. Our balance sheet is strong, with FFO to net debt at 10.7%, well above our target. This metric supports debt funding capacity at the half year of around AUD 1.6 billion. This strong position, combined with active capital management and the predictable capacity-based inflation-linked revenues we've highlighted today, leaves us well positioned to deliver on our organic growth opportunities.
By focusing on an efficient cost base and increasing free cash flow, our balance sheet capacity increases. The inflation linkage on our tariffs, participation in the DRP, and the dividend payout ratio provide up to AUD 700 million of capital expenditure funding per annum, which is above our estimated growth CapEx of circa AUD 600 million per annum. This is before taking into account any incremental funding benefits, cost optimizations, and potential proceeds from asset recycling. The point is that we are very confident in relation to the funding flexibility we have in meeting the attractive growth opportunities available to us. This provides a good introduction to our CapEx on slide 19. During the first half, we invested in growth capital expenditure through the completion of construction of both the Kurri Kurri Lateral pipeline and the Port Hedland Solar and battery project.
These projects are expected to deliver earnings at the back end of the second half. We also invested in early works for the East Coast Grid expansion, including the MSEP natural gas conversion and MSP summer capacity expansion. Foundational CapEx was lower than forecast and focused on the Grid Solutions project, emissions reduction programs, and ongoing physical security of assets. Stay-in-business capital was higher in the first half due to timing of expenditures, but we are maintaining guidance at around AUD 200 million for the full year. Turning now to our capital management and debt metrics on slide 20. We remain well positioned with a healthy spread of debt maturities and a significant amount of liquidity to support investment in growth. In the first half, we undertook a number of capital management initiatives which have further strengthened our balance sheet position.
These included our very successful return to the U.S. 144A market, where we raised $1.25 billion with 10- and 20-year maturities. This enabled us to proactively repay early the outstanding U.S. dollar notes in September. We now have no existing drawn debt maturities until March 2027. As noted earlier, funds from operations to net debt at December was 10.7%, above our target of 9.5%. This metric remains consistent with our BBB flat Baa2 credit ratings and is in line with the rating agency expectations. As we've said previously, we remain committed to our current investment-grade credit ratings. On slide 21, I want to wrap up by reiterating three key points. First, the business has delivered strong earnings growth in the first half, with underlying EBITDA up 9.1% to just over AUD 1 billion. Second, our balance sheet is strong and well positioned to fund growth, along with growing distributions to security holders. And finally, our inflation-linked cash flows, strong customer demand, and focus on reducing costs means we are well positioned to create value with the growth opportunities in front of us. And with that, I'll hand back to Adam.
Thanks, Garrick. Taking you now to slide 23. Remain confident about our strategy. It remains unchanged. Our priority market segments contain billions of dollars of opportunity for APA, and this allows APA to be selective in choosing the markets where we'll participate, focusing on markets where we have clear competitive advantages and choosing projects that deliver the greatest value for security holders. Moving to slide 24. Before we discuss our growth opportunities, we want to provide evidence of the strength of our existing business. I want to emphasize again that all of the most credible energy market forecasters are in agreement that demand for gas is strong over the long term, up to and beyond 2050. This slide provides AEMO's view of the stable long-term demand for gas on the East Coast and the significant investment required in gas-powered generation. This is what's driving the need to increase capacity on our East Coast gas grid and for new gas storage projects. The demand is being driven by two key dynamics. First, there's a need to increase capacity to move gas from the northern basins to the southern markets. And second, gas-powered generation needs to grow by at least two and a half times to meet demand. This GPG will need to be connected to the grid and, in most cases, command additional pipeline storage solutions. Turning to slide 25.
At APA, as it relates to our business, we're generally agnostic to whether it's domestic gas or imported LNG that supports the demand for gas in Australia. We would be storing and transporting both sources of gas in any event. However, as Australia's largest gas infrastructure company, we believe we need to ensure our market and policy settings translate into gas supply that's low cost, low emissions, and reliable for our customers, for industry, and for our communities. And that's why we advocate for unlocking the abundant domestic gas that's already available in our country. AEMO's view on the price of gas from northern basins ranges from roughly AUD 5.50-AUD 8.20 per gigajoule at the wellhead. By contrast, LNG global spot prices into Asia range from $17 in an average northern hemisphere summer to about $21 in an average northern hemisphere winter.
When you take transport into consideration, domestic gas is still considerably cheaper. As you all know, not only is domestic gas cheaper than LNG, but it's also more reliable and lower emissions. The case for domestic gas is conclusive. Moving to slide 26. Our confidence in the demand for domestic gas supports today's announcement of a five-year East Coast gas grid expansion plan. The plan will deliver a 25% increase in north-to-south gas transport capacity and new southern markets gas storage. We've structured the investments to incrementally meet market demand and help avoid annual gas shortfalls. Slide 27 is the detail behind our plan. It's designed to unlock northern Australian gas to address AEMO's forecast gas supply shortages in the southern markets. Our plan will support ongoing earnings growth from APA's core gas transmission business.
It builds on the AUD 700 million investment APA has already made over the last four years in the East Coast gas grid, including stages one and two that have already added 25% more capacity to the grid. The new expansion plan includes an initial investment of AUD 75 million over the next two years. This includes AUD 40 million to immediately deliver two enhancements to the grid that have already reached FID. The remaining AUD 35 million will fund early works on stages three, four, and five of the expansion plan. This includes both pipeline infrastructure expansions as well as storage projects. Reaching FID on stages three, four, and five will require early customer support and the required regulatory approvals, all of which will be progressed as we undertake our early works. Now, this is a significant project for Australia's East Coast gas market, and we look forward to bringing it to life.
In parallel to our East Coast expansion plans, we're also progressing opportunities in the Beetaloo, as outlined on slide 28. It's becoming clearer that the Beetaloo Basin is likely to have the lowest cost, lowest emissions gas to support Australia's domestic gas requirements. The first stage of our investment in the Beetaloo is already underway and will connect the basin with the Northern Territory. This is a critical development for energy security in the NT, where approximately 80% of power generation comes from natural gas. But beyond the NT is a significantly bigger opportunity to supply Australia's East Coast gas market, and the Beetaloo Basin looks set to achieve this. Slide 29 presents a summary of where APA is focusing its growth efforts. This includes the gas transmission and storage opportunities we just stepped through, as well as in contracted power generation and electricity transmission.
We strongly believe in the attractive organic growth opportunities available to us, which will deliver value accretion for APA's security holders. Our strategy is about partnering with our customers. Pleasingly, we're well advanced in our discussions with customers across each of the four markets. We're confident we can deliver high returns from these projects, given our competitive advantages and the market requirements. And when coupled with a strong-based business that has strong demand fundamentals up to and beyond 2050, we're confident that these projects will support sustainable distribution growth over the long term, as well as deliver value accretion. Moving to slide 31, I'll leave you with a reminder of the strong fundamentals of our business. We have long-life assets with gas forecasts to be required for decades to come. More than 90% of our revenues are inflation-linked.
We have high EBITDA margins with a focus on further improving margins through enterprise-wide cost reduction initiatives. We have a AUD 1.8 billion organic growth pipeline with ample funding capacity from our existing balance sheet and our operating cash flows. Beyond this, we're targeting growth opportunities that deliver strong returns, and we will be disciplined. We have an attractive distribution yield of 8.5%, and we're focused on sustainable distribution growth for security holders over the long term. Thanks again for your time today. We'll now move to Q&A.
Thank you. If you do wish to ask a question, please press Star then one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. If you wish to cancel your request, please press Star two. And if you are on a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before asking your question. First question today comes from Tom Allen at UBS. Please go ahead.
Good morning, Adam, Garrick, and the broader team. Thanks for the update this morning. Lots of focus there on growth. Just in December 2024, APA won the exclusive development right to build two new corridors under the WA Pilbara Energy Transition Plan. So now there's a commitment to WA to build this infrastructure. Can you please confirm whether you currently have the capacity to fund that new electricity transmission network and the associated works on balance sheet and provide just a broad indication of the CapEx required? And the second part for that is, are we right to assume that the returns targeted under your bid to the WA government for that work are similar to the real post-tax returns under the regulated Pilbara transmission line that APA part owns with Horizon up in the Pilbara currently?
Thanks, Tom. Look, firstly, you'll know that the AUD 1.8 billion of organic growth that takes us out to 2027, which is fully funded, doesn't include the East Pilbara Network. So the East Pilbara Network, which, as you rightly said, is two transmission corridors, one quite small, the other one quite large, but it is very early days there. There is a lot of work to be done to develop that. We're obviously going to be working not only with the WA government, but also with our customers, our First Nation peoples in the region, in the communities more broadly, to bring this to life. But this is not something that we need any material level of funding for today. And I just keep coming back to our focus in the near term is on the AUD 1.8 billion pipeline, which we're very confident about and which is fully funded. I could talk a lot about it, Tom, but that's really the summary for people on the call,
and just the second part, Adam, about the framework to think of returns. I think when that deal was announced, the team had guided that at least a 2% spread over the cost of capital for that type of infrastructure, but I thought, can we guide perhaps similar returns to the real post-tax returns under the regulated Pilbara network that Horizon and APA currently own?
Yeah, what I can be really clear about, and we've had it on numerous slides recently, is what our hurdle rates are for the various assets in terms of a range. You'll recall those graphs. We haven't been specific about the exact numbers, but you can clearly see if you run your ruler across the slide, the sort of range that we're looking for. Quite obviously, Tom, we're not going to be chasing projects that we don't believe can deliver significant returns for our investors. We won't even pick up the pen if we don't think that we're confident that we can deliver returns within our hurdle ranges.
Thanks, Adam. Then on your funding sources, you've called out a continuation of the DRP with a little discount and then also asset recycling initiatives. The big Wallumbilla Gladstone Pipeline obviously generates some of the strongest returns in the portfolio, makes up about 35% of Group EBITDA. For that reason, it's perhaps the easiest asset to sell down, but I suspect that some might see that as selling the crown jewels just to provide near-term funding support. The question is, is that an asset you're considering selling down? Perhaps can you comment on the framework that you're using more broadly to assess those asset recycling options?
Yeah, thanks, Tom. A couple of things there. Firstly, there is no need to sell any assets as we sit here today. It's not like we're racing around trying to find homes for any of our existing assets. This is just about being disciplined and making sure that we're constantly looking at our portfolio and ensuring that we do the work to assess whether or not assets are better held by us or whether they're better held by others. A real option is also partnering with certain assets. APA has had a track record of doing that in the past where it's sold down stakes in existing assets if we think that we can generate more value in a different structure.
So having been through a couple of years of building the foundations of our business, things like our ERP and our investment in climate, our investment in capability and security, we're now at that point where we can have a really good look at portfolio maximization. We're not going to obviously call out any particular asset, but suffice to say that what we will always do is do the numbers to work out whether or not we can create more value for those outside of our ownership. Obviously, you then look at the strategic value as well. So we wouldn't be selling an asset or divesting of an asset that provides us with a platform to continue to grow. So we need to look at all of that. And the key message here is that we're doing that and we'll announce things if and when they transpire.
Thanks, Adam. Thanks, Garrick
Thank you. The next question is from Alistair Rankin from RBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead.
Oh, good morning, Adam, Garrick, and team. And congrats on a strong result. I might actually just start out on the corporate cost out initiatives. Pleased to see that you're targeting that at the moment. Could you just run through exactly what you're targeting with those corporate cost outs going forwards?
Yeah, thanks for the question, Alistair. Look, we've been obviously onto that, and it goes back to the comment I just made before about having built the foundation. So having the business in a really good shape. And look, by the way, there will be continuing foundational investment in things such as our grid solutions business. So it never stops. But really, we are now focused on making sure that we can optimize our cost base. As I said in my script, it's OpEx, as in operational OpEx. It's corporate costs. It's staying business. It's foundational. So it is enterprise-wide. It is comprehensive. I think we'll probably be targeting three broad areas. So one is supply chain, a lot of external spend that we can go after there. Secondly is just the efficiency post the investment in our systems and processes. Again, as an example, we've got contingent labor in our organization, and we need to look at how we best maximize the way that we deliver the outcomes post those investments. And the third one is around our operating model and being really internally organized around our customer base and ensuring that we're streamlined, that there's no duplication of effort. So it is meaningful. We're not putting a number out there yet. We'll work our way through that.
But again, we're confident that we can deliver meaningful returns. And you'll see in one of our slides there, but you can see the benefit not only from margin enhancement and driving a better outcome for our customers, but it also provides really tangible financial benefits, including providing us with additional headroom, which I think at times gets a little bit lost with the noise.
Excellent. Thanks for the comprehensive answer there. And I might just shift over to the Pilbara as well. So just how does new Port Hedland assets perform? I know they've only just been completed, but if you've got any update there. And then also second part to that question is just around how you're thinking about growth asset, the Pilbara growth asset pipeline now that those two assets are completed.
Yeah, thanks, Alistair. So the Port Hedland Solar and Battery Project completed construction just pre-Christmas, and now we're working through the approval processes. Really, it's to do with connections. There's a group in WA called Pilbara ISOCo that is responsible to work with us to ensure that it's appropriately connected to the customer's operation, and that just takes a bit of time. So the key message with that is that we're confident that the construction delivery has gone very well and we'll be connecting that up through the appropriate channels over the coming weeks and months. So what we've advised is we're expecting that to come online towards the back end of FY 2025. And then same with Kurri Kurri, it's a very similar situation there. In terms of the Pilbara more broadly, in terms of development opportunities, again, really confident about the opportunity set there.
We're working on a number of projects, and they're projects that we outlined at the time that we acquired the business, so no surprises there. They're obviously customer-led, so we're working with our customer and customers, I should say, to work through those processes. The demand and the need for these assets is real. The real strategy, to recall, on the business there is that we have acquired assets and we own assets that have really compelling sites that are off the customer's land, so it's on our tenure. We're working our way through and for in almost every aspect got the traditional owner support, and importantly, the sites are very close to the customer, so we think we are best positioned to deliver the lowest cost outcome for our customers there, so we'll continue to work with the customer on that. We're confident and we'll bring them to life when we complete the negotiations with our customers.
Excellent. Thank you very much.
Thank you. Your next question comes from Anthony Mulder at Jefferies. Please go ahead.
Good morning all. I might stay on the Pilbara if I can. I guess we were up there in May last year; it's 18 months since you bought it. Is it surprising to you that you haven't had more developments being approved or going forward 18 months since that acquisition?
Yeah, Anthony, it's a good observation. And one of the things we've reflected on is maybe we should have been clearer at the time of the acquisition around the timing expectations to bring these projects to life. And it's not anyone else's miss. It's our miss that I think the market have sort of assumed that you announce these projects within a 12-month post-acquisition. Again, we remind people we've been really deliberate about our strategy. One of the things we have not wanted to do is to develop projects on the grid where we take risk and that build it and hope they come type strategy. We've worked on a strategy which is very much customer-led. You develop the projects in partnership with your customers. You try and bring the best solution for them, and then you bring it to life when we're both ready. Ultimately, Anthony, we've got to work with our customers. You're not alone. We'd all like everything to move as quickly as possible, but the reality is that's not life, in particular working with your customers. The point, though, Anthony, is that we remain really confident.
I don't want to put a time frame around it, but we're confident we can bring projects to life reasonably soon and equally in other regional parts of Australia. We think the strategy is sound.
If I can agree, we all like things earlier than I guess what people have delivered. I guess the second part to that is how important is the need for, or the need of, these Pilbara transmission corridors to support that growth, to deliver that growth. And related was your interest in Zenith Energy. Are we thinking of, should we think about Pilbara as needing all of these other components to deliver the growth that we previously thought as announced back in August 2023?
Anthony, the EPN wasn't it was obviously on the radar when we acquired the business, but we didn't incorporate any of that into our valuations or anything. It was. That's really upside for us. And again, what we acquired was a number of projects, a number of sites developments that had been at various stages of progression, including an existing business that generates a lot of cash and really good returns, mind you. And again, we are really confident about that pipeline of growth. We think that they're. I'm not going to repeat. They're in the right sites. They're off our customer's tenure, and we think they're really compelling. The point about the EPN, which is for everyone's benefit, the East Pilbara Network, which is a proposed transmission line for us to develop, effectively connecting the port. It's called Pit to Port, Port Hedland all the way down to in and around Newman, is to be able to provide shared infrastructure for the various mining customers in the region.
And what that enables us to do is, very importantly, not only connect the customer up to the various points along the transmission line, but very importantly, be able to enable the connection to the power generation sites. There will be situations where you get much better load factors from, for example, wind farms if they're away from the coast, if they're more inland. And what this would enable is a build-out across the region of more renewable power generation assets to be able to connect into that electricity line. So we think it's really exciting. But as I said on that earlier question, it's still early days, and we'll continue to work through that. The Zenith question is quite simple. It's a good business. We obviously know it well.
It's a very similar strategy to our Alinta acquisition in that it's supporting largely off-grid mining customers in and around Australia. So no issue with the strategy or the business per se. The key message to everyone on the call, and we've been really clear about this, is that we don't need to buy growth. We've got a really attractive organic growth pipeline already, and we've got significant growth opportunities beyond that AUD 1.8 billion that we're very, very confident about. So we don't need to buy growth. And obviously, when you look at something like a Zenith, if it's complementary, that ticks one box, but you then have to go to whether or not you can create value and whether you can create value at the time. And quite frankly, at current share price levels, it just didn't make sense for us. So we retracted from that very early, and we'll continue to focus on the organic growth pipeline.
Very good. Thank you. And just quickly from Garrick, also on Pilbara, second half 2024, EBITDA flat on first half 2025. Was there anything specific in second half 2024 earnings that made that higher, that made the growth sequentially flat?
No. I think good observation. The run rate in second half 2024 is consistent with the run rate we've seen out of the Pilbara earnings in first half 2025. Pilbara continues to deliver in line with the business case and our budget. So we're really pleased around the integration and performance of those assets. And obviously, look forward to the Port Hedland Solar and Battery coming online late in second half to deliver more earnings from that portfolio.
A ll right. Thank you.
Thank you. Your next question comes from Ian Myles at Macquarie. Please go ahead.
Good morning, guys. Let's go to the East Coast Grid. You made comments that you've sort of sold a lot of your winter capacity into FY 2026, FY 2027. Curious to understand, have you been able to get a superior premium in the past given the shortages in the market? You've been able to capture some of that value?
Sorry, Ian, I got a bit confused by your question. Can you just repeat that again?
So you're talking about Grid and pre-contracted the FY 2026 and FY 2027 capacity for winter. I was wondering whether you've been able to extract a premium out of that capacity in the recontracting from what you've done in the past couple of years.
Look, when we've been working with our customers, and again, recontracting has been strong for the last three years. This is not new, and it again gives us confidence about the long-term role of our assets and long-term confidence around things such as the East Coast Grid. Obviously, as we expand that out, particularly with the bigger projects like the Beetaloo Pipeline and the Riverina storage facility, then that's got to be customer-led. We've got to work with our customers to get confidence to bring those to market. One of the things that we work really hard on, and all credit to our team who works with our customers on this, is making sure that we can work with them forecasting out their requirements over the next couple of years. As you know, it's principally around the peak period, which is the area of concern generally for the market.
What we try and do is, it's like any infrastructure asset, you're going to have periods where you're at capacity, and then you're going to have periods where you've got shoulders where you don't have that capacity. So one of the things that we do with our customers is try to not only sell the book for those peak periods, but try and sell more of those shoulder periods and get more return out of that. Now, obviously, the customer demand is there, which is positive as well. So it works well for us, and it works well for the customers. So I'd say, Ian, it's less about sort of peak pricing or anything like that. We're obviously incredibly transparent around our pricing, and it's all up on bulletin boards. It's more around how do we work with our customers to get longer-term commitments in and around those shoulder periods as well as the peak.
So can I interpret that as you've actually sold more capacity in the non-winter periods in those shoulder periods as this contracting has increased?
Yeah, put it another way, Ian, that the winter, which might have been three months in the past, might be four months or five months now, if you know what I mean.
Okay. Yeah. That makes sense. Okay. Then it sort of extends into the announcements you've made, and you talk about customer-led. What sort of contract life do you need? And I appreciate you can't be precise, but a vague sort of amount you need to see to progress these initiatives to actual construction?
Yeah, it's a really good question, Ian. We need to work through that with our customers now. Yeah, we've had good early engagement with our customers on the concepts. One of the really important things of bringing this to life publicly now is that it gives us more capacity to be able to work through the detail now with the customers, as well as ensuring that we don't have any unnecessary regulatory hurdles or policy hurdles that get in the way. The customers, you know this, Ian, the customers have really transitioned generally, if I can generalize, over the last decade from 10, 20 years ago where it was a world of 10, 15-year long-term contracts to one where, and it's really just our GTAs are matching the GSAs, which have become a lot shorter just because of the way the gas supply has become a lot more fluid.
It is why we get quite confident about developments in the Surat and the Beetaloo, because that'll bring a lot more stability to the broader East Coast gas market, knowing that there's significant volume, low-cost, low-emissions gas flowing from northern markets to southern markets. Then ultimately, to answer your question, we've just got to work through that with our customers over the next period. Some customers will be out there looking for really long-term contracts so that they can shore up their own operations, and others will be looking for shorter-term contracts, but understand that we're going to need a level of commitment from them to be able to make the investment. So long way of saying that there's a fair bit to go, but you've asked the right question, and it's what we will focus heavily on as well over the coming months as well.
Okay. Maybe to take a different perspective, when do you need to get commitments from customers to get these staged, probably stage three, actually progressed so you can meet what, a 2027 winter or 2028 winter period?
Yeah. Look, and again, it's always a bit fluid. We're trying to, in one breath, be precise about a particular winter, but ultimately, what we want to do is just keep incrementally building out capacity. You've been around the industry long enough too, Ian, that you always have the view that there's no gas supply, and then all of a sudden, oh, there's gas supply this year. So it's not about trying to be perfect, but to answer your question, we want to try to hit FID with Beetaloo and Riverina in FY 2026 to be able to support the winter capacity, really focusing on that sort of 2028, 2029 period.
You know that we've done it before. We can build these things in stages as well. So you don't have to build all the compression and everything at the same time. You can build it out over time. Riverina would be likely to be a two-stage project. But yeah, it's just something we need to work through with our customers. And ultimately, they're going to want the supply there as well. They're not going to want to have to. They understand the process that it takes time to build these things. We do have good corridors available. We've been already working closely with the communities on these projects. So we're feeling pretty good that we can deliver it. We just need to work with the customer.
Okay. One final question. I think you may have mentioned gas plants. I know years ago, you used to have a Dandenong gas plant proposition, but it sort of disappeared. I'm sort of wondering, is that coming back, or are there other sites that you're sort of trying to develop for gas plants?
You mean gas-fired power generation, Ian?
Yeah, gas-fired power generation.
Yeah, yeah. No, absolutely. Look, that's our bread and butter, right? We have a number of gas-fired power generators around the country. Obviously, with the significant growth required about gas-fired power generation to support the introduction of renewables with coal coming out, the increasing demand from AI data centers, all of that is all well understood. There's a really strong demand for GPG. Griffiths just came out with a really good report. I'd encourage you to have a read of that.
That has a demand for gas-fired power generation on the East Coast even higher than what AEMO's coming out with. But regardless of which one might be right, the reality is there's significant demand. For us, that presents two opportunities. And it's also on the West Coast as well. That presents two opportunities. One is to build the GPG ourselves. And again, that's our bread and butter, long-term contracts with customers. So it's early days there, but we're obviously exploring that. And the second one is that what we've worked out, and we've seen it with Kurri Kurri, and we've seen it with Brigalow in Queensland, is that they need storage. You can't fire up a gas-fired power generator and just expect that the gas is miraculously there in the existing pipeline.
You need to have storage facilities to be able to start the generators up and keep them running for the period of time that you need it. So we see that as an opportunity as well. And I guess that, Ian, just gives us confidence around growth beyond 2027, beyond the AUD 1.8 billion. And we can be disciplined and focused on projects that deliver good returns and just continually build out the business and create value.
Okay. Look, I'm sorry I asked too many questions. I'll let the others go. Thanks.
Thank you. Your next question comes from Rob Koh and Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Good morning, everybody. Just following on the East Coast Grid expansion plans, can I maybe ask a couple of questions about some of the milestones there? Are there any major planning approvals for stage three, four, and five that we should be thinking about? And then also, you've given us some indicative pipeline lengths and storage capacity there, which helps us kind of size that CapEx. Can you give us an indicative diameter of those new pipes, just if possible?
I was waiting for somebody to ask the question, and I'll throw out a number for everyone that you'll link it to, but I'll obviously heavily caveat that. But look, just going to your first question. So yes, there will be planning approvals required, a lot of community engagement, traditional owner engagement. So this is our bread and butter, Rob, as you know. So we're working through that as we speak. We've got a lot of land already. We've got the corridors already.
It works for us as well as the communities to use corridors that deliver these outcomes most sensitively. That's a massive focus for us, Rob, and we're well underway. We wouldn't have announced these if we didn't have confidence that we could work our way through this already. I'm going to look at a piece of paper because I know you're going to quote me on these numbers forever. I'll throw these numbers out to you again with the highly caveated number. But look, Beetaloo, based on the size and length and the initial expected diameter of the pipeline, that is likely to be around an AUD 800 million mark. I could put a big range around that, but it's just too early days. That Beetaloo pipeline, which is effectively stage three, could be in the order of AUD 800 million.
If you then go to the Riverina storage facility, you'd build that over a couple of stages, and that could be each stage around AUD 450 million. So that's the stage four. And then stage five is just compression and so forth. You know that they're smaller kind of numbers. So yeah, that gives you a rough range, Rob. But again, early days and a lot of work to be done.
Yeah. Okay. Thank you. You gave me more info than I was even asking for. I appreciate it.
Well, I know that I'd spend the next two weeks getting the same question, so I might as well give you a rough number now.
All right. No worries. Much appreciated. Okay. I guess my next question, just more of a modelling question than anything else. Within your foundation CapEx, and I think you've basically reiterated your guidance there for foundation CapEx for this year, but you did have one particular emissions reduction activity, which probably wasn't looking as economic as everyone would have liked. Can you give us any update on that, or yeah, where that one's at?
Yeah, Rob, you're obviously talking about some of the electrification options that we're looking at on some of our gas facilities. So just for everyone's benefit, obviously, we've got an emissions reduction target with our gas transmission business, and we're looking at a range of options there. We've already done a lot of work around direct abatement valves and seals and those sorts of things. We think that there's more opportunity there, and I think that's quite likely to be the most viable outcome for us to take direct emissions out. The other things that we've looked at is what can we do with some of our compressors. And as you know, one of the challenges we have, and this is a challenge for companies like ours all around the world, is that our compressors run on gas for a reason, and it's because they're out in the middle of nowhere and you don't have electricity. So it becomes a real economic challenge to make the electrification of some of our existing compressors viable. So Rob, we're just working through that literally as we speak, and we'll provide greater clarity to that in our climate report as part of our four-year results.
Yeah. Okay. Sounds good. Maybe one last question going back to the Pilbara where you've kind of highlighted your power aspirations there are still underway. Could you comment? And you've called out working with traditional owners there, which has always been an important part of your. I think you've used the word bread and butter quite a lot. So I'd include that there. Can you talk about, is there any opportunity with your new power developments in the Pilbara for co-investment with First Nations groups?
Rob, we've been meeting and spending a lot of time, as you can imagine, with the traditional owners. And ultimately, we're looking at all sorts of partnerships with the traditional owners to work with them and to be sensitive of their concerns. And remembering that the development of renewable power generation in remote regions such as the Pilbara, this is new. I think, again, a lot of people forget that the business has been going that we acquired for about eight to 10 years. It hasn't actually been going for decades. So it is something that we need to be very sensitive to. And Rob, short answer to your question is we're looking at all sorts of opportunities in that regard to work with our First Nations people. So yeah, lots of options to consider there.
Okay. Sounds good. All the best with it. Thank you.
Thank you. Once again, if you would like to ask a question, please register by pressing the star then one on your phone. Your next question comes from Dale Koenders from Barrenjoey. Please go ahead.
Morning. I was just hoping that maybe you could high-level pull the story together on the growth CapEx outlook. Is it right to assume that sort of the next three years, your AUD 1.8 billion includes some of the early East Coast pipeline augmentation and some minor sort of Pilbara growth projects? And then after that point in time, it sounds like there's another AUD 1.8 billion just on sort of CapEx in the pipeline network. And then how does that then overlay with, I guess, Pilbara transmission lines and timing there and possible spend? And then where's the trigger that you start to pull on third-party capital that's required to come into that mix?
I might just start with the longer term, and I'll hand it over to Garrick can go through the 1.8. But just as we, and you can imagine that we've got models that map all this out as you do as well. And we go into an incredible amount of detail to understand its impacts on funding, on credit metrics, on distributions, and trying to get that whole balance right. And I want to be really clear. We know we can get it right. So it requires being disciplined. It means that you've got to generate strong returns on those projects, which is why we're very focused on the markets that we are focused on. We're not out chasing growth for growth. We've got a very significant pipeline of opportunities. I want to be transparent with you on what they are, and I believe we are, and hence that we believe the returns will be good. And as you get out to some of these bigger projects, absolutely, we will look at partnering. We have done it in the past, and we'll do it again. We're partnering with EDF, as you know, on the electricity transmission projects. We've partnered in the past with other organisations like Marubeni on different assets.
And as we go into some of these bigger opportunities, obviously, and when we speak to our investors, it's a great thing because we can deploy capital and generate strong returns, but we'll fund them in a way that is appropriate at the time to deliver the best return. And partnerships is one. Asset recycling is not something that we'll just do to react, but if we do see opportunities to recycle capital and then be able to deploy that, then that's something that we'll look at. So again, the message is that we absolutely understand that people will be making sure that we deliver those investments and fund them in a way that can get the balance right between distributions and growth, and we're acutely aware of that. And the key message is we've got many, many options at our disposal. But Garrick, do you want to go through the 1.8?
Yeah. Thanks, Dale, for the question. I think the way we've framed the 1.8 in the past has been AUD 1.8 billion plus of organic growth opportunities. And we look at it FY 2025 to FY 2027, what is in flight, what have we announced and committed to, but also what are the probable growth projects available to us? I would also say that if we spend the AUD 1.8 billion over the next two and a half years, then we will still have sufficient or we still have a lot of headroom in our balance sheet over AUD 500 million on current estimates. Probably the third comment to make around the 1.8 is we've obviously already gone through AUD 340 million of that growth, as you see on page 19 of the pack, and have a very healthy credit metric to support that or FFO to debt. In terms of the specific projects in flight relate to the Port Hedland Solar and Battery Project, the Kurri Kurri Lateral Pipeline, and a lot of the spend in the first half of 2025 relates to those projects. Other committed projects include the Sturt Plateau Pipeline, the CS Energy Brigalow pipeline and storage, and also the East Coast Grid early works that Adam's talked to in some detail through the course of that.
When it comes to the probable projects, likely focus, and this reflects what we set out in the full year 2024 results presentation as well, the focus on probable projects will come predominantly around remote generation across Pilbara, Mount Isa, and the Goldfields region.
Thanks for that extra color, particularly on the spare balance sheet capacity you said at the end. Just maybe a final comment on what's your sort of ideal outlook beyond FY 2027? Do you think growth CapEx continues at this level, accelerates, and is that the logical point where you could maybe accelerate your dividend growth?
Yeah. Again, great question, Dale. And as we've said previously, a lot of our organic growth pipeline is going to be customer-driven. When we acquired the assets in the Pilbara back in August 2023, we talked about a AUD 3 billion pipeline of growth opportunities there alone, and we continue to see those opportunities. We've talked about the East Coast Grid expansion opportunity. So when we look forward, and obviously this will be driven by customer timing, we see step-ups in our earnings through the commitments we make in growth CapEx over the next two and a half years, and we'll start to see those earnings come online. That will provide greater balance sheet capacity going forward, as we've touched on in the presentation today. So I think from a business perspective, we certainly hope to see consistent organic growth capital aligned with what we've talked about in FY 2025 to FY 2027 and hopefully well beyond that as well.
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you. Your next question comes from Nathan Lead at Morgans. Please go ahead.
Good morning, Adam. Just my first question. I mean, share price has obviously been trending downwards. So my question, I suppose, is do you think you can get better returns from investing in new projects than actually buying back your own stock?
Thanks, Nathan. Look, the key for us is that we know that we can generate strong returns, and again, we're very confident about the returns that we can generate over the longer term. And it goes back to our strategy. It goes back to focusing on markets that there's AUD 100 billion worth of opportunity. We're not trying to chase AUD 100 billion worth of projects. We're trying to pick niche markets where we've got strong, compelling, competitive advantages, where we can partner with customers and deliver long-term growth. So for us, short answer is yes, we're very confident about our ability to be able to deliver strong returns going forward.
Yeah. But I suppose those returns are sort of predicated against cost of capital. Cost of capital has gone up with the lower share price. Okay. Look, second question, Basslink. So not much comment there in the presentation, but can you talk about what the potential range of earnings is on Basslink if it does end up operating on an unregulated basis? And I also noticed you spent some growth CapEx on the assets. Just wondering what that's for.
Yeah, Nathan, I'll just take the first one, and I'll let Garrick talk about the growth CapEx. But look, in really simple terms, and it's quite public, right? You can read the submissions, but we've made a submission to the regulator to put Basslink into a regulated arrangement. That's a commitment that we made with the Tasmanian government at the time that we acquired the business, and quite frankly, it makes a lot of sense for the consumer to have that asset as a regulated asset base. I don't think people understand, but we already trade the business, so we already have the technical systems, mechanical trading of that asset in place. It's just that we've got it under a long-term contract with Hydro Tasmania, and we basically submit the bids in at AUD 0. But we have the capacity to trade. We have people in the organization who have the capacity to trade. And if we are unable to get that as a regulated asset, then we've got the opportunity to trade that business. Now, I don't want anyone to get spooked by that. That doesn't mean that we're going to introduce earnings volatility into our business.
We're not going to be running a hedge book. We're not going to be like an energy retailer. We can basically manage the downside, and then you get the earnings to the upside. And the best answer I can give you in terms of where that could land, Nathan, is that there's a report that was actually ironically commissioned by the regulator as part of their review group called ACIL Allen, who determined that over the life of the asset, that under a traded arrangement or a non-regulated arrangement, the cost to the consumer would be an extra AUD 1.6-AUD 1.8 billion. I think you can work out that means that we are not concerned about our ability to be able to generate returns from that asset. But again, we strongly believe that it's appropriate to regulate that asset, and we'll continue to move down that path. And just to wrap it up, we have options around trading. We may not be the one who actually physically undertakes the trading. We might enter into a long-term contract or a short-term contract with a third party who can do that, and then we would take basically a stable return. So there's a couple of options at our disposal there. Did you want to answer that question?
Nathan, I suppose high level, the capital expenditure was planned expenditure that related to reliability of the asset, including systems. I can get back to you with specifics around that, but that effectively is expenditure we expected and see that under a regulated regime is rolling into the asset base as a non-regulated asset, then clearly would look to get appropriate returns on that.
Yeah, it's a systems investment that we made.
Yep. Sorry, just a final one from me. Obviously, you've got a fair commitment or capital investment in the Mount Isa region. Just wondering what your thoughts are on the Queensland government proceeding with CopperString. Obviously, it's due for delivery later this decade, but just your thoughts in terms of what they could do to the value proposition in Mount Isa.
What I'm reading at the moment is that a project that was initially going to cost less than AUD 2 billion is close to AUD 10 billion, potentially taking a transmission line to a region that already has sufficient renewable power generation on site. So if I was the government, I would be struggling to understand how the economics could stack up, and I don't think any consumer would want to pay for that. So there may be a section where it goes to Townsville, where it could make sense, but going from Townsville to Mount Isa doesn't make a lot of sense. If it was to come to pass, we'd be then selling energy anyway into that electricity transmission line to send it back to the East Coast of Queensland. But yeah, I think that's one of the more strange projects out there at the moment, given the economics are just so horrendous.
Yep. Yep. Okay. Thank you.
Questions, everyone.
Thank you. The next question comes from Gordon Ramsay at RBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead.
Well, thank you very much for the opportunity. First of all, I wanted to congratulate you on the five-year East Coast Gas Grid expansion plan, obviously recognition that gas is going to play an important role going forward in terms of the transition, energy transition. I'm thinking a little bit longer term, and obviously when the Wallumbilla-Gladstone Pipeline, there's some uncertainty about that asset in terms of its contribution back to APA post-2035 when the Shell contract expires. I want to see if you can comment on how that might fit in with the work that you're doing in the Beetaloo and obviously your commitment to the first stage of that project, and if you see that potential opportunity in the Beetaloo as something that could make a big difference long-term and offset maybe what might happen at Wallumbilla.
Yeah. Thanks, Gordon. Look, the Beetaloo, I think everyone's becoming more and more confident about the viability of that project. The well results are incredibly strong. It's a low-cost opportunity. I think you've already seen the numbers and around AUD 560-AUD 570 per gigajoule in terms of pricing. So even as you add the transportation costs, it becomes a very low-cost product. Incredibly low emissions as well. I don't think people appreciate how low the emissions are there. So it seems to be ticking every box. It's a very significant basin in terms of size. Obviously, first focus has been to deliver gas to the Northern Territory, and I'm sure you're aware, but not only does the territory have a very deep dependency on gas, about 80% of its electricity comes from gas, but it's also had some supply issues with some existing wells up in and around the region. So this is a fantastic development for the territory, and we've been working very closely with the government to bring that to life. Beyond that, there's clearly, and given just the size of the basin, there is significant opportunity to obviously address domestic demand.
We think the Beetaloo pipeline, then connecting into the South West Queensland Pipeline, the Beetaloo that we've announced today, and various other developments. You can see how Beetaloo will provide a lot of security of supply to the East Coast gas market, which is terrific. You would all be able to work out very easily that there's going to be likely more gas available beyond domestic gas supply, and that'll be an interesting one. There's really two pathways that are being spoken about at the moment. One is an LNG export facility out of Darwin, and then the other one, which is clearly as equally obvious, is that you would use the existing Gladstone LNG export facilities that are there. The timing of that is quite neat in terms of when Beetaloo would bring gas to market and when the timing of LNG exports starts to moderate. So the existing exports moderate. So yeah, it's an interesting one that we are obviously all over, Gordon, and we will be with you monitoring it very closely moving forward.
Thanks, Adam. Okay.
I think that's. Sorry,
please go ahead.
I was just going to say I was going to do your job. Sorry, I probably should have let you go, but I was just going to say before I hand it over to you, but just to thank you to everyone for taking the time today and for all of your questions.