Beach shares plummet as new gas field reserves slashed

Beach Energy has shocked investors with a big downgrade in reserves at a field in Victoria that started up only two months ago, fuelling concerns that years of underperformance at Kerry Stokes-backed oil and gas producer have not ended.

Shares in Beach, which counts the billionaire’s Seven Group as its biggest shareholder, slumped as much as 11.6 per cent on Monday morning, after its chief executive, Brett Woods, said he was “extremely disappointed” to downgrade profit expectations, especially after having reported other reserve revisions across the portfolio in June.