The Beach Energy Ltd (ASX: BPT) share price managed to outrun benchmarks in April and climbed more than 4% into the green. At the time of writing, it is trading at $1.65 apiece, down 4% on the day.
While April was a fairly quiet month for Beach, strong market fundamentals have boosted revenue and earnings for the exploration and production company.
Meanwhile, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) clipped a loss of around 1% over the same timeframe.
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Oil markets soar in April
Last month was hallmarked by the release of Beach Energy's Q3 results and FY22 expenditure guidance update.
During the quarter, Beach recognised sales revenue of $458 million, symbolising a 15% gain on the previous quarter.
However, while revenues stretched up, production narrowed by 3% to 5.2 MMboe, compounded by a 5% reduction in sales volume.
Consequently, it was the anabolic-like growth of both oil and natural gas markets in 2022 that transposed to higher income for Beach, it notes. The company reported a realised oil price of $176.5 per barrel and a realised gas/ethane price of $8.4/GJ, up 51% and 10% respectively.
Pricing strengths continued to run throughout April. Brent Crude oil finished $1 per barrel higher at approximately US$108 per barrel while natural gas futures are each resting at multi-decade highs in US, UK, and European contracts.
Helping 'fuel' the rally, the Russian-Ukrainian conflict has ensured that geopolitical risks continue to plague energy markets. Oil prices surged another 5% this week after the European Union put forward a plan to ban Russian crude oil imports.
In fact, Beach Energy wasn't the only winner last month. Energy markets around the world are rocketing. The Betashares Global Energy Companies ETF (ASX: FUEL) also landed around 5% in the green last month, for instance, despite some end-of-month volatility.
Beach Energy share price snapshot
In the last 12 months, the Beach Energy share price has shot up by 30% and is now trading back above its pre-pandemic highs.
This year to date, shares have surged 31% and are in the green across all major time frames.
