Beach Energy to supply LNG to BP, Imugene trials show ‘positive signals’ and ANZ extends $200m funding program

Beach Energy (ASX: BPT) will sell 3.75 million tonnes of its LNG under a sale and purchase agreement (SPA) executed this week with oil and gas giant BP’s subsidiary BP Singapore.

The Australian oil and gas company made the announcement Monday – saying it has agreed to sell 3.75Mt of LNG to BP, which brings it closer to a supplier of LNG to global markets.

The LNG will be sourced from Beach’s Waitsia stage two project, with first sales to begin in the second half of 2023 and last for an estimated five years.

Beach chief executive officer Morné Engelbrecht said the opportunity will further put the company on the map and place it in an “enviable position” within the Australian energy sector.

“Signing of the LNG SPA with BP is a significant milestone in our delivery of material growth and another step closer to Beach becoming a supplier of LNG to the global market …,” he said.

“Once LNG sales commence, Beach will have further diversified its commodity pricing exposure.”

“Beach’s oil and gas portfolio will provide exposure to Brent oil prices, spot LNG prices, east coast, west coast and New Zealand domestic gas prices, and oil-linked gas prices,” he added.

Imugene

Biotechnology company Imugene (ASX: IMU) has revealed “positive signs” from its PD1-Vaxx trial in non-small cell lung cancer patients.

The company confirmed the results at the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer’s annual conference on 6 August, held in Vienna, where Professor Michael Boyer presented the early-stage data.

Imugene’s phase 1 study is evaluating its B-Cell immunotherapy candidate PD1-Vaxx to better understand its safety and tolerability when treating patients with non-small cell lung cancer.

Imugene managing director and chief executive director Leslie Chong said the phase 1 trials were encouraging.

“I am encouraged that we are seeing positive signals with correlative biomarker data at such an early stage of our PD1-Vaxx phase 1 trial and we are now progressing to the phase 1b combination studies in treatment naïve patients.

“It’s particularly gratifying to have followed a patient in the trial for over 18 months where their tumour burden has been reduced to zero.”

“For such a late-stage patient, having a chemo-free alternative could mean a very real difference to their quality of life,” she added.

In the upcoming phase 1b studies, the drug candidate will be studied in combination with a monoclonal antibody medication referred to as Atezolizumab.

Suncorp Group

Insurer Suncorp Group’s (ASX: SUN) chief executive officer Steve Johnston has warned the company will raise home insurance premium offers by about 15% in the coming year.

The anticipated rises are the most significant for the company since 2013, caused by a “wave of wild weather, higher reinsurance bills, and a blowout in the cost of building supplies and second-hand cars”.

Mr Johnston said the insurance premium offers will continue to rise amid continuing natural disasters.

“It’s hard to tell, but I think that if you think about the fact that we had 35 big events last year and significant increases in our reinsurance program and allowances, I suspect it will be something of a similar proportion,” Mr Johnston said.

Mr Johnston said despite the premium hike, the company hasn’t uncovered any signs of consumers shedding their insurance cover.

OZ Minerals

OZ Minerals (ASX: OZL) rejected an $8.4 billion takeover bid by mining giant BHP (ASX: BHP), claiming the offer significantly undervalues the company.

In an effort to expand BHP’s copper portfolio, BHP made a conditional and non-binding indicative proposal of $25 per share for OZ Minerals.

OZ Minerals managing director and chief executive officer Andrew Cole said after some consideration, it concluded the deal “significantly undervalues” the company and is not in its best interests.

“We have a unique set of copper and nickel assets, all with strong long-term growth potential in quality locations.”

“We are mining minerals that are in strong demand particularly for the global electrification and decarbonisation thematic and we have a long-life resource and reserve base. We do not consider the proposal from BHP sufficiently recognises these attributes,” he said.

BHP chief executive officer Mike Henry expressed his disappointment that OZ Minerals was not willing to entertain his company’s “compelling offer”.

“Our proposal represents compelling value and certainty for OZ Minerals shareholders in the face of a deteriorating external environment and increased operational and growth related funding challenges,” he said.

ANZ

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ASX: ANZ) has extended its $200 million funding program with the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) in an effort to assist its business customers in transitioning to net zero.

Through the program, ANZ and CEFC will both contribute 0.25% toward a 0.5% discount on its asset finance rate to small to medium-sized business customers, for loans up to $5 million for eligible energy efficient-related assets and projects.

ANZ managing director of commercial and private banking Isaac Rankin said the funding program is designed to assist its customers to “transition towards a low-carbon economy.”

“The program will help our customers invest in crucial assets to help them grow their business in a sustainable way,” he said.

“We are seeing many of our customers are changing the way their businesses operate, moving towards a more sustainable future.”

“Whether it be an electric truck or solar panels, we want to give Australian businesses access to finance, services, and advice to invest in equipment which will help them shift to low carbon business models and operations that put them on a path to net-zero emissions,” he added.