Buru sandbags balance sheet, cuts corporate costs in half

Bury Energy has moved to sandbag its balance sheet to help it weather the global Coronavirus inspired financial storm.

Executive Chairman, Eric Streitberg, has taken a 55 per cent pay haircut and board fees have been slashed by 40 per cent to show solidarity with other corporate and non-production staff who have seen some redundancies and pay cuts this week of between 20% and 75%.

According to the company, the move has resulted in an average reduction in corporate personnel costs of around 50%.

The company said it is well placed to ride out the financial storm with no major lease commitments on the immediate horizon and cash still coming in from ongoing production at its Ungani oil field.

Strong production from the Ungani oil field in Western Australia’s Kimberley region over the summer has rounded out a solid quarter for Buru as it looks to achieve oil sales of around $5.4m from two its two deliveries in the March quarter.  Buru said it is also expecting to export another load of Ungani crude oil from the port of Wyndham around the middle of May.

Oil production at Ungani continues at the latest reported rate of about 1,500 barrels per day and COVID-19 is having no material impact on operations, according to the company.

Whilst the oil price expected for its next oil sale will affected by the recent fall in global oil prices, the fall has been partially offset by the weakness of the Australian dollar.  Management said Ungani can still make money at over US$25 per barrel and it is looking at further operating cost reduction initiatives.

Buru’s executive team is also preparing a virtual data room for prospective farm-in partners who are interested in joining its next round of exploration drilling that will look to target more oil prospects around Ungani and condensate-rich gas prospects elsewhere in Buru’s portfolio.

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