Senex owns producing oil assets in Australia's Cooper Basin and operates exploration permits covering more than 70,000 square kilometres in South Australia and Queensland.
Oil production
Senex operates more than 10 oil fields in the South Australian Cooper Basin, including Growler oil field, which was connected via pipeline to the Moomba oil processing facility in December 2012. Production for the 2012/13 financial year is expected to reach 1.2 million barrels. Actual oil production for the half year ended 31 December 2012 was 660,136 barrels. In February 2015, Senex Energy discovered an oil pay zone at its Martlet North-1 exploration well on the western flank of the South Australian Cooper Basin.
Gas exploration
Senex is one of a handful of exploration companies seeking to develop a commercial scale unconventional gas resource in the South Australian Cooper Basin. Unlike some of its contemporaries, Senex has not partnered with a multinational energy company to share the cost of its gas exploration programs. Exploration during the 2012/13 financial year resulted in gas flows of per day at standard conditions at the Kingston Rule-1 unconventional gas exploration well and per day at standard conditions at the Hornet-1 well.
Financial information
For the nine months to 31 March 2013, Senex announced revenue of A$104.2 million, although production for the March quarter was lower than expected due to workovers on key wells, natural decline and flooding in the Cooper Basin. The company also announced that it had cash reserves of approximately A$150 million and that all of its exploration and development programs for the 2012/13 and 2013/14 financial years were fully funded.
Broker reports
On 23 April 2013, Citi rated Senex as "neutral" following release of the company's quarterly report, which reported a 7% drop in production for the three months to 31 March 2013. On 15 April 2013, JP Morgan downgraded the company to "underweight" citing "a lack of visibility regarding the timeframe to realise value for its CSG and shale assets". Broker reports by JP Morgan and RBS during 2012 had previously rated Senex as "buy".
History
Senex was listed on the ASX in August 1984 as Victoria Petroleum N.L. At that time, the company was based in Perth and headed by Founding Managing Director John Kopcheff, who retired from the Board in September 2010. In June 2010, the company announced the appointment of Ian Davies as Managing Director and advised that the business would relocate its head office to Brisbane. Later in the year, the business announced "aggressive development programs" for its oil and gas acreage in the Cooper and Surat Basins, further leadership appointments and obtained shareholder approval to amend the company's status and constitution. On 14 February 2011, the company officially changed its name to Senex Energy Limited and adopted the ASX ticker code "SXY". One week later, the company announced a merger with fellow Cooper Basin oil producer Stuart Petroleum. Senex was admitted to the ASX/S&P 200 index in April 2012. In March 2013, the ASX amended the company's classification to a Mining Producing Entity, for reporting purposes.
