Beach to speed work on permit off Australia

Beach Petroleum Ltd. said it will "expedite exploration and possible development" of the VIC/P46 exploration permit in the Otway basin off western Victoria, Australia.

March 27, 2006

By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Mar. 27 -- Beach Petroleum Ltd. said it will "expedite exploration and possible development" of the VIC/P46 exploration permit in the Otway basin off western Victoria, Australia.

It will become operator of the permit under a farmout agreement with Essential Petroleum Resources Ltd. that raises its interest to 50% from 17.5%. Essential Petroleum, the previous operator, retains a 25% interest. Mittwell Energy Resources Pty. Ltd., a subsidiary of Mitsui & Co. Ltd., holds the remaining 25%.

Essential Petroleum said it will be "substantially carried" by its partners through a 3D seismic acquisition and drilling program expected to cost more than $20 million.

It said it identified "numerous prospects and leads" on VIC/P46, which covers a large offshore area between Portland in the west to the border of South Australia.

Beach said drilling will begin in 2007. It said a commercial gas discovery would have a distribution outlet through a grid connection to the main Seagas pipeline north of Portland or to the eastern states' network via existing connections around Warrnambool.