Icon Energy: Ray James’ plan to cut massive staff costs at Gold Coast gas explorer Icon Energy

The boss of a sluggish Gold Coast oil and gas explorer said the company has a plan to cut its massive staff costs.

Icon Energy is sitting on a significant gas resource in the Cooper Basin.

THE boss of sluggish oil and gas explorer Icon Energy says the company has a plan to cut massive staff costs that have exceeded the cost of exploration by more than five times.

Broadbeach Waters-based Icon is a petroleum and gas explorer with potentially lucrative tenements in the Cooper Eromanga and Gippsland Basins in Queensland and Victoria respectively.

Its strategy is based on building relationships with “strategic partners” to feed growing energy needs from Australian and overseas consumers.

However, it has struggled to find the partner it needs for ATP 855, located in the Nappamerri Trough in the Cooper Basin.

Icon Energy managing director Ray James. Picture: Mike Batterham

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Icon needs a company to chip in between $20 and $30 million to develop stage two of the gas resource potentially worth $700 million.

It comes as managing director Ray James finds himself under pressure to cut staff costs that for the final quarter of the year were close to six times the $151,000 spend on exploration.

The third quarter was little different with Icon spending $584,000 on staff and $108,000 on exploration and evaluation. Mr James said a solution to the staff costs will be put to the board soon.

“We are bringing that under control. Currently we are contracted but we will do something about that,” Mr James said.

Icon Energy’s ATP 855 in the Cooper Basin is estimated to have a gas resource worth $700 million.

ICON ENERGY NO CLOSER TO MOVING AHEAD WITH GAS PLAN

“There is a plan to address current staff costs … and that includes all operating costs.”

He said staff costs may seem high in relation to the share price of 1.8¢, but that was not a true reflection of the company’s assets.

“We have a project that is valued at several hundred million based upon our resource report for ATP 855. Not one penny of that is reflected in the share price.”

Mr James said realising that potential was dependent on finding a partner for ATP 855.

“We have been negotiating for a very large project, it is not a normal size exploration project because we’ve made such a large gas discovery,” he said.

“Our two big partners left us a couple of years ago because they did not have the money to carry on.”

In 2017 Beach Energy ­withdrew from its partnership with Icon for ATP 855, leaving Icon in full control of the tenement.

Mr James said the company is 12 months into negotiations with new partners for the gas tenement.

“We have all the ingredients to go into production,” he said.

“The only thing we lack is the money to do it.”

Mr James, who is the third-largest shareholder with 4.19 per cent of the stock, said he is in the same boat as the other 5000 stockholders in Icon.

“We have the resource, if we can develop that resource shareholders will get a good return.

“We are not active enough at the moment because we are seeking this finance.

“The kind of money we need takes one to two years to get together.”