Quest Petroleum NL (Quest) advises of a recent press release by...

Quest Petroleum NL (Quest) advises of a recent press release by Pertamina EP, Indonesia’s State-owned petroleum exploration and production company, announcing a new gas and condensate discovery in the Lavatera-1 well in the Pagardewa area of South Sumatra on 20th February 2012. The Lavatera-1 well flowed 5.7 million cubic feet per day during production testing and Pertamina would now prepare a production scheme for the Lavatera-1 well in early 2013 to allow the well to produce gas for supply to the South Sumatra-West Java pipeline operated by state gas distributor PGN. This exciting new discovery was made approximately 50km to the north of Quest’s 80% owned Ranau PSC within the prolific South Sumatra Basin (refer Figure 1). Its scale provides strong support for Quest’s contention that large scale hydrocarbon discoveries in the greater South Sumatran basin are both likely in areas of limited exploration and can be quickly commercialised due to existing infrastructure and ready markets. The discovery confirms Quest’s strategy in targeting the hydrocarbon resource potential of the region. The Lavatera-1 well result strongly supports Quest’s exploration strategy and the findings of the Ranau Joint Study, which concluded: - The Ranau PSC has significant oil and gas Prospective Resources in four new and very lightly explored sub-Basins that form an extension of the prolific South Sumatra Basin - Gas discovered in this area can be rapidly commercialised through the South Sumatra – West Java (SSWJ) gas transmission pipelines and processing infrastructure which supply large markets in Sumatra, West Java and Singapore. As detailed in Quest’s announcement on 17th February, 2012, the Joint Study has identified the Jaya sub-Basin, currently with three high priority leads, as the the key focus of our upcoming 2D seismic and follow up exploration drilling programs.