Oil and gas production in Australia is set to explode in the coming years as new technology like fracking and 3-D seismic makes new discoveries and production cheaper and more efficient than ever.
But many oil and gas companies still look seriously undervalued, even those with high margins and growing production. Three companies that are particularly attractive right now are Senex Energy Ltd (ASX: SXY), Strike Energy Ltd (ASX: STX) and Beach Energy Limited (ASX: BPT).
With a current price-to-earnings ratio of just 12.7, Senex Energy looks seriously cheap for a fast growing company. Senex was forecasting production growth of up to 28% for the full year to 30 June, but all eyes will be focused on the results of the company's aggressive 30-well drilling program when it announces its full year results.
If Senex can continue to build its reserves replacement ratio and add to its '2P' oil and gas reserves, shares could see a surge in interest.
With a market cap of $104 million, Strike energy is a smaller player but still has significant potential. The company is sitting on prospective net gas resources of 4.5 trillion cubic feet (tcf) and has been busy establishing sales agreements to commercialise its assets.
Although it is still early days (first production is forecast for 2017) Strike looks compelling at its current share price of $0.13, particularly with low break-even hurdles of production.
Beach Energy is the dominant player in the Cooper Basin and has forged key partnerships with Santos Ltd (ASX: STO) which spreads risk and cost. The company sells for an enticing eight times earnings and forecast production growth of as much as 20% for the full year to 30 June.
Beach has one of the cheapest pools of energy reserves in the Cooper Basin and also holds $428 million of cash on its balance sheet which makes up almost 20% of its $2.2 billion market capitalisation.