Beach Energy Limited Stock Market Press Releases and Company Profile

Adelaide, Dec 13, 2007 AEST (ABN Newswire) - "100th" WELL MILESTONE REFLECTS DRAMATIC BEACH PETROLEUM GROWTH

The spudding this week of an oil appraisal well in a remote corner of western Queensland has marked an historic achievement today for energy group, Beach Petroleum Limited.

The commencement of drilling on the Jackson-53 well, in the Naccowlah Block's Jackson Field, marks the participation by Beach in its 100th well this calendar year in tenements acquired through the acquisition of Delhi Petroleum in September last year.

The 100th well milestone has powered Beach to a record 150 or so oil and gas wells drilled in calendar 2007, as the Company spudded nearly 20 wells in its own right and participated in an additional 30 wells on its coal seam gas interests in Queensland.

This represents a dramatic increase for Beach in the past ten years, as it participated in a total of only 5 wells in the 1997 financial year.

During 2007 Beach will participate in more than 65 wells associated with the Cooper Oil Project ("COP") which has enjoyed a 70% success rate, commensurate with predrill expectations. A similar level of activity is expected in Beach's tenements in 2008.

Beach's entitlement to the COP's production and revenue upside was engineered in September last year when the Company outbid a rival bidder to capture all of the production and exploration assets of Delhi Petroleum - centred on the Cooper Basin - in a A$574 million deal.

The acquisition gave Beach an average 25% interest in the COP as well as part ownership of the Moomba processing plant and transmission pipelines to southern and eastern markets.

"This is a very historic milestone for Beach but our forward focus is on maximising the remaining potential of the Cooper from drilling throughout the Basin - either through the COP or in other joint ventures," Beach Petroleum' Managing Director, Mr Reg Nelson, said today.

"This approach has considerable potential to add incremental but nonetheless significant daily barrel averages to our total production profile.

"Strategically, production from the COP is now complementing Beach's increasing foothold on the emerging West Patchawarra Flank of the Cooper Basin.

"The close-to-completion pipeline being constructed in the West Patchawarra by Beach will shortly add a lower cost route to market for our new Callawonga and Parsons oil field discoveries.

"Combined, the intensity of the COP, the wells connected to date and our emerging production in the West Patchawarra, are providing new stable base line revenue for the Company as it continues to pursue more aggressive and larger projects within Australia and increasingly overseas."

Contact

Reg Nelson
Managing Director
Beach Petroleum
TEL: +61-8-8338-2833

Mark Lindh
Adelaide Equity
TEL: +61-414-551-361


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