Welcome to Strike Energy's, first half financial year 2026, webinar. We've got Peter Stokes, our Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, and Tim Cooper, our Chief Financial Officer, joining us today. I'll hand over to Peter for an introduction, and Tim will take us through the financials, the financial results, before I hand back to Peter for an operations review. Then we'll do some Q&A at the end with the time remaining. Peter, over to you.
Thank you, Emma. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining the call this morning for the first half results. I'm really happy to have you join us, and we're happy to take questions at the end. There have been a number of questions that have come through the hub, and online, and via text over the last couple of days, so we'll address as many of those as we can. If and those that we're not able to, we'll certainly provide some additional responses to as well. I recognize, and this has come through a couple of the questions, that we haven't provided a lot of communications over the last couple of months, other than more of the sort of regulatory updates and certainly announcing Walyering West spud due in early April.
Part of the reason, and the key part of that, is that the a number of the discussions we're having, particularly around a couple of our major projects, are commercially sensitive. As soon as we have further information that we can share, we'll certainly do that. Over the next couple of months, we'll also start the drilling at Walyering West, so there will be a continuous updates coming from that drill as we work through that program. Also, as we move through some of the other programs, particularly into commissioning of South Erregulla Power Plant, there'll be a number of additional communications. I'll talk through some of that timeline, and towards the end, also talk through some of the key milestones that we're working towards over the next couple of months.
I'd like to hand back to Tim now, to take us through financials before I go through the operational side of the business.
Thanks, Peter. Welcome, everyone, on the call this morning. Thanks for joining us. I'll start with operations and production at Walyering. Walyering totaling 3.8 petajoules for the half. This is down on the same period from last year, as we managed production alongside the purchase of third-party gas. This is the best way to get our commitment, mostly a commercial commitment before getting it back to the client in March. We've reached an average realized price of AUD 7.37 a gigajoule, resulting in revenue of AUD 36 million and operating cash flow of AUD 3 million. We closed December with a cash balance of AUD 69.5 million, debt drawn on the Macquarie facility of AUD 108.8 million, reflecting a net debt position of AUD 39 million.
The debt has been utilized for the project execution of South Erregulla Peaking Power Plant, which is 77% complete, and with capital expenditure in the period of AUD 87 million. Total capital expenditure for the period of AUD 99.5 million, which in addition to South Erregulla project, included Walyering Compression, West Erregulla, and Walyering West-1. You will have noticed the material uncertainty included in the audit report for the half-year financial report. This refers primarily to uncommitted AUD 15 million tranche within the Macquarie Financing Facility, and the forecast completion of the South Erregulla Peaking Power Plant. The uncommitted nature of this facility has not changed from previously reported. It is subject to Macquarie Credit Committee approval at the time that Strike intends to draw down on that balance.
We are engaged with Macquarie on a regular basis and do not foresee any concerns with the appropriate approvals being achieved in due course. The South Erregulla Power Peaking Project is a key objective to the company and is envisaged to generate significant cash flows. Therefore, its delivery on schedule and on budget is an important outcome for the business. Further, management continues to manage capital expenditure in a prudent manner and ensure that the best returns are generated for shareholders. Thanks, Peter. Back to you.
Thank you, Tim. Now going through the operations side of the business. A lot of questions have come around West Erregulla. We're continuing to progress with West Erregulla, with a number of commercial opportunities, both on the midstream, we're looking at options with our joint venture partner, and certainly in the upstream, and then midstream processing, we're looking at a number of options there. We are also finalizing the pre-FID activities with our joint venture partner. That said, we've already progressed a lot of that with drill availability, long lead items, and approvals well underway to commence that work, once we agree with the joint venture partner, exactly what we will do pre-FID. South Erregulla, Tim alluded to, continues to progress extremely well.
We're now nearing 80% complete overall. A number of key components, the engine shed and facilities within the shed, are nearly 100% complete now, and I'll go through that in a bit more detail. At Walyering, we continued to produce successfully through the last number of months. We had a short shutdown, planned maintenance shutdown, but prior to Christmas to install the heat exchanger, and that's done very well, and we're now working through the process of looking at how much we'll ramp up that facility again ahead of doing the drilling at Walyering West.
On the exploration front, we continue to plan the next stages of exploration, including the potential for a well at Ocean Hill and 3D seismic across the broader South Erregulla area and Catathini, which we're looking at for early next year. We're commencing the approvals processes that will enable us to do that. Going into West Erregulla in a little bit more detail. As you'll be aware, the West Erregulla asset has been included in the AEMO GCU, and as part of the required supply for West Australian domestic gas into the future. It is a key focus for the West Australian government to have this asset developed, and we are certainly working with our joint venture partner to drive that process together.
Looking at how we develop the upstream, you know, ultimately work through the various downstream options for both parties. We are working towards finalizing the independent reserve and resource estimate and still targeting to have that before the end of the quarter. That's progressing well, and we expect that to reinforce the scale of the West Erregulla broader assets across the West Erregulla area in L25, and Erregulla Deep in L26. That will also continue to provide further guidance around some of the work that we'll be doing in the pre-FID activities. It's a, you know, an extremely large value accretive development, and we want to make sure that we drive the most, the best commercial outcome for Strike and our shareholders.
We are working through that process to ensure that we maximize the value in the most efficient timeframe as well. Moving on to South Erregulla, you'll see on the right-hand side of this is the photo of the shed now completely sealed, with the engines installed, and all of the filtration systems on the left-hand side as well. The power station's now 99% complete, as I said. We've had the provider of the Jenbacher units, Clark, started the commissioning, and that will get underway fully from next month. We'll have first gas from running through the plant towards the end of April, where we start to be able to do the load bank commissioning of those facilities.
We're continuing to work through other key packets, packages of work, which you'll see on the next slide as well. We are seeing really positive increases in the benchmark reserve capacity credit, which continues to provide an increasing underpin for that facility. Starting to work closely with Western Power on the key commissioning, which commences with them over the next month or so. There are, you know, we continue to engage with them actively and are working with them to complete the works now. You'll see on the following slide, the Cry switchyard, which will be handed over to Western Power, with the steel pylons already in place. The large relay room being delivered to site and is now in place.
Our 52 poles that run from the power station down to the Western Power area are now complete. We'll continue the last leg of the power line, the 1.5 kilometers that connects us into the switch at the end of our facility. We're still on target for 1st October operations. There are a number of processes that we work through, including the Western Power commissioning and AEMO credit application process, and we'll see that in the key milestones later on in the pack. We're well on track to be doing that. As it says here, we expect the mechanical completion and then gas induction into the facility later in early Q2.
That will enable us to start running up the system over the next several months and do the end-to-end testing ahead of the AEMO accreditation process. Onto Walyering. I mentioned that we are continuing to progress well with the Walyering project. We released recently the intention to spud the Walyering West well. That's now locked in to start in early April. Earthworks are well underway on site. We have the pad now being developed, the drill rigs lined up, and will mobilize in the next couple of weeks. All of the materials were ordered last year, and we'll be able to start that in April, with an expected drilling time of around six weeks to enable us to do testing.
We've already done a number of the works ahead of a tie-in pipeline. That'll enable us to, you know, target an early 2027 connection on success of Walyering West. As we've said in previous presentations, you know, our financials are not subject to Walyering West being successful. To be prudent, we've planned that that is not. However, as a business, you know, we're very actively driving to make sure that we're ready to connect that gas on success. As Tim said, we've continued to deliver significant volume of gas in the half of 3.8 petajoules and generated some AUD 36 million of revenue.
As we were working towards installing the heat exchange late last year, we scaled back some of our production and took the opportunity to buy gas in the market, still provide that to our customer, where we were still in the money on that gas. We continue to ensure that we've got the right balance of commercial and production, and are working now towards... On the next slide, the compression units, which are now installed on site, are being commissioned over the next couple of months, and they will come online towards the back end of Q2, as they're required for the production at site. At the moment, we are, you know, we're looking like we will ramp up over the next several months.
That's just to be confirmed over the next month or so as we run the heat exchanger for a bit more time. Looking, really looking forward to the drilling program. As I said right at the start, we'll ensure that we continue to provide regular updates around that program, as we start work on the with the Ensign 970 rig that we've used previously in the business. Moving to Ocean Hill. During the half, we also announced the results of the 3D seismic work. We've been working over the last period to identify a drill, initial drill location, and have now landed on that position.
We've been working through the regulatory approvals and land access, during the next quarter or so, we intend to be able to provide some further detail on likely timing for the well that we propose to do down at Ocean Hill. But based on that 3D seismicity we talked about at the time, the resource there looks, you know, very attractive and certainly something that we want to pursue. Also continue to drive what has underpinned Strike over a long period of time, which is exploration success. We're looking forward to working through that process. On Catathini, the very attractive large resource or the resource that we have or understand to have out to the east of South Erregulla. We are working towards approvals for a 3D seismic across this area.
We expect to be able to get that over the next several months, with an intention to run seismic, post the farming season, when we can get access to all of the paddocks up there, and be able to run the seismic, a comprehensive 3D seismic across that area. Over the last several months, a number of other seismic surveys have been out, have been released into the market, that we're able to include into our modeling around South Erregulla. We also want to take that into the southern area, so we have a proposal to do a which will be called the Minjinie 3D seismic.
Which will cover the South Erregulla area, and identify additional drill targets for that, to ensure that we are able to monetize the 45 or so TJs that we expect in that resource. Moving to strategic priorities. One thing that we have provided some updates on, is the West Australian market. The government continues to push us and others to provide domestic gas into the market, and provide ensure that we have that we can fill some of the gaps that are starting to emerge towards the back end of this decade. Similarly, provide firming capacity with our gas-fired generation.
We continue to engage the government regularly and closely around the planning that they require around additional power beyond the 85 megawatts that we currently will have online. Looking at opportunities to bring that into the market, particularly as you may have picked up the Reserve Capacity benchmarking prices continue to increase. We expect to see that probably level off as additional battery and wind comes into the market. The gas-fired power generation provides a key part to that renewable transition, in that it provides the firming that as the coal-fired generation drops off, they that will be missing from the market.
There's an opportunity for us to provide both the gas-fired generation, but also specific firming capacity, in the form of synchronous condensers, that enable to provide stability into the network well into next decade. The near term reflection or key sort of milestones that we are working through over the next couple of months, or next, sorry, till the end of the year, but particularly a couple of us right in front of us. Certifying the West Erregulla and Erregulla Deep resources. We're working to have that, as I said, no later than the end of the quarter, but we're working to try and bring that forward. As I said, you know, that from, we expect that to continue to reaffirm the scale of the West Erregulla resource.
The South Erregulla plant will have the benchmark Reserve Capacity Credits for the 2028, 2029 year confirmed before the end of this quarter as well. That will see, we expect, based on the draft numbers, a further increase to nearly AUD 492,000 a megawatt, which is up from the AUD 360 the previous year, and the AUD 220,000 that we had in our FID analysis. Walyering West will be spudded in early April. So we're targeting around April 9 as the date that we will do that. And as I said, construction of the pad, road access, and mobilizing of the rig is well underway.
That rig will be on site by at that point, and then we'll be ready to start. We've already done some of the early works for some waterfalls and other things on site. The Walyering West test, we expect to be done by the end of the quarter. We'll be able to continue to provide updates to the market on that as well. Practical completion of the power plant will occur around the end of this of the Q2 . That'll be as part of the commissioning that we work through with Western Power, and then as we work through the accreditation with AEMO for the reserve capacity credits that, which will kick in from 1 October.
I should say also, that as we work through that commissioning and generate power, any power that we put into the grid, we also will be able to charge for that power, and start to generate revenue for the power plant ahead of the 1 October Reserve Capacity Credits. The South Erregulla plant is still on track for start-up in and full operations on 1 October. You know, as we work through that with Western Power, we have confidence that we're still on track for all of the works that need to happen.
Key components of the plant, as I said, are certainly well progressed now and will be signed off over the next couple of months ahead of doing the run-up of the generators over, you know, in April, once we have gas connected. We have run the pigging loop of eight kilometers that we've run down to one of our other wells, so that we've got capacity sitting there to start up the generators for peak power. So it's a really exciting project, coming to a critical part of that project now. Then we expect that the Reserve Capacity Credits, while we'll have it, what will be called a Temporary Reserve Capacity Credits, that gets formalized a month or two after the power plant goes live.
We will be able to claim those Reserve Capacity Credits, from 1 October. One of the other things, you know, critical for us is the FID decision for West Erregulla, and we're looking to still do that in the back end, before the back end of this year, subject to working through some of the downstream processing, and certainly finalizing timing around pre FID activities. We're doing everything we can to accelerate that from approvals and other parts, and certainly ensuring that we and our joint venture partner have, you know, the right commercial options to take that forward. There are a number of areas that we'll continue to explore for how we might exploit the gas out of that really, really exciting resource.
Strategic priorities for us continue to be deliver on what we said we're gonna do. We need to focus on delivering the South Erregulla Power Plant. As Tim alluded to early on, we have to deliver that project on time and on budget, and we're confident that we are on track to do that. We need to, you know, we will need to generate that additional revenue will enable us to start to do some of the other activities that I spoke about around exploration, moving into some of the other areas like Catatheni and Ocean Hill. Starting to, you know, to ensure that we're exploring other opportunities, getting ready for West Erregulla development and the like, as well. The activities there will only increase as we move towards FID and beyond.
We're optimizing the Walyering production profile and looking at, through, you know, options at the moment to increase the production out of that field again, which will enable us to generate more highly profitable revenue. We've been able to run 2 of the other wells over the last several months. Walyering-6 and Walyering-7 are producing. Walyering-7, we've been doing some additional trials. It's producing good gas and a lot of condensate. We're managing the levels of condensate well, so that we can run that export, send that condensate to South Australia for processing. We're very focused on a disciplined cost pace across the business.
We're always looking for ways to optimize our costs, but also deliver value with the resources and capability that we've got in the business, and it's critical for us that we continue to do that. We're very focused on a defined way forward on West Erregulla, and having a clear pathway that we can share with the market. You know, clearly understand it has a huge impact for all of us on share price for the business, and a key part of the future of the Strike business. It is an absolute focus from myself, and Tim, and the commercial team, and our legal teams as well, to ensure that we are driving that process forward. It's, you know, it is something we're working on every day.
I think importantly, underpinning all of that is continuing to drive what Strike is known for, which is a successful exploration pipeline, and delivering along on some of those key assets that I talked about. Including, further exploration on our current assets, also moving into, certainly looking at the opportunities for developing, the Catatheni and Ocean Hill leases that we have as well, and making sure that we are, you know, getting the best out, that we can out of the extensive portfolio that we have across the Perth Basin. I should say, you know, I think as I said when I first joined, I'm extremely excited about the opportunities that we have in the business to develop these assets.
It may feel like things are going slower than we'd like, but I think for us, ensuring that we firm up our revenue from South Erregulla and Walyering, is critical to enabling the future in the business, and ensuring that we can efficiently deliver West Erregulla, and then take advantage of the exploration opportunity in front of us. On that note, thank you for everyone for attending. Hand back to Emma to take us through the questions. Tim and I, and Emma will answer those. Please keep sending through your questions if you have any, and we'll address those as best we can. Thank you.
Great. Thanks, Peter. I might start off with one that, we've been having a few questions on lately. We did address it in the report, but perhaps not so much in the presentation, and that's the purchase of the pilot land. If you wanna maybe elaborate on that a bit for people?
Thanks, Emma. The pilot land that we bought is immediately to the north of the South Erregulla asset. It was the power line that we run to Western Power runs through that pilot land or the Heitman Farm. We thought, you know, we wanted to make sure that we secured that asset to enable us, or the option on that, to enable us to ensure that we could provide the easements to Western Power, but also certainty over ours. It also sits strategically between a couple of our assets and gives us some other options as we look for future development across the key assets.
Yeah, great. Maybe another one that we've been getting quite a few questions on, and there's a lot of interest, is perhaps you can talk a bit about what Hancock's proposed Beleleema gas plant might mean for Strike?
Yep. Yeah, I mean, I think for us, you know, the announcement of the additional plant is really exciting for the basin. I think for me, a couple of things were important. Having now seen Waitsia up and running and ramping up, certainly changes the context in the Perth Basin. There was a lot of angst about could that plant be up and operating, given the delays? I think that was one big milestone. I think having, you know, a large partner like Hancock announcing, you know, a significant plant in the basin, too, continues to provide real certainty around the infrastructure that will be in the basin. It gives us a very good option for processing of the downstream gas from West Erregulla.
You may be aware, it sits almost adjacent, some 4 or 5 kilometers north of the West Erregulla asset. It's a significant power plant. It's progressing well. We continue to talk to Hancock about options with that facility. You know, and they are actively continuing to develop their assets to the north of us as well, which is only positive for the basin. Having options around infrastructure, I think is critical for us to ensure that we drive the best commercial outcome for Strike.
Great. We're not getting too many questions in. I've got one other one, but if anybody... If you hit the chat button, and you wanna ask a question, please feel free. We do have another question around just wanting to understand, are the board and management aware of the Carnarvon shares coming out of escrow in July? What is management doing to make sure that they're in the best position when that happens?
Yep. Tim might want to jump in on this one as well. For us, critical is delivering what we said we're going to. You know, the premise of Carnarvon investing was on the basis of us delivering on, against key projects, being South Erregulla, having a path forward on West Erregulla. Delivering on an ongoing basis at Walyering, having plans clear on our exploration assets into the future. From an operational context, we're absolutely focused on delivering against all of those. Clearly, you know, there are, you know, potential corporate activities around that coming out. We're very focused on understanding where that goes. We continue to engage with Carnarvon. As you'd be aware, we have Will Barker on our board, who, you know, representing Carnarvon as well.
We're working closely with Carnarvon. You know, we'll continue to plan and deliver, and I think the best thing we can do is deliver on the plan and more, and that ensures that the Carnarvon investment is secure and gives us options beyond that point.
Great. Tim, maybe one for you. On the Western Power, on the additional costs at South Erregulla, with regards to Western Power, are we seeing any action in that space?
Thanks, Emma. Yes, we are. We've been engaged with Western Power and government, a number of departments of government, over the past few months. Those conversations are progressing, and we'd be hopeful to be able to communicate an outcome in the coming couple of months.
Cool. Peter, there's a very broad question here. Are there any asset sales planned in the near future?
Simple answer is no. I think for us into the future, you know, looking at farm-ins and other things is always on the cards. We're certainly not looking to sell any assets.
Great, probably follows on, there's another one here that says: "Given the continuing dissipation in our share price relative to our asset, has the company considered selling West Erregulla to Hancock and monetizing the asset to support the share price?
Yeah, I think, even before my time, I think there were some discussions. You know, there's not a discussion with Hancock around the sale of West Erregulla. Hancock are very focused on building out the Beleleema gas plant , monetizing their assets to the north of ours, and, you know, ideally, you know, they would want to put their West Erregulla gas through that plant as well, and we need to work through the options for us as well. I think simple answer is no at the moment.
Great. We're not getting too many other questions in, so we might wrap it up there. Look forward to speaking with shareholders soon when we've got some more news to share.
Thank you, everyone, for joining us today. Really appreciate your time, keep providing feedback. I know Emma gets a lot of calls from a lot of you, so we're happy to talk to shareholders through that process as well. Thank you very much.