Level 7, 22 King William Street, Adelaide, South Australia 5000 Telephone: (08) 8410 0611 PO Box 8148, Station Arcade, Adelaide, South Australia 5000 Facsimile: (08) 8410 0250
18 August 2004
Australian Stock Exchange Limited Companies Announcement Office Electronic Lodgement System
Dear Sir,
ANNOUNCEMENT TO ASX 2004 DRILLING PROGRAM – AUGUST UPDATE
Stuart Petroleum Limited wishes to advise the following update to its 2004 drilling program.
The next phase of Stuart’s drilling program can be summarised as follows:
It comprises three wells [one development and two exploration]
· It is scheduled to commence on or about 21 August at the Worrior #2 location
· Worrior #2 will complement the Worrior #1 well which is now producing in excess of 2000 barrels of oil per day following the successful jet pump installation
· It will target 17.1 million barrels of potential oil in place and 2.5 BCF of gas in place
· Oil production from any exploration success will be sold unhedged The Hunt rig 3 has been contracted to perform the drilling operations. The rig is presently moving to location and performing routine maintenance and pre-spud inspections.
Worrior Development - PEL 93 (Stuart 70%)
Following the interpretation of the Worrior 3D seismic survey a development well is to be drilled on the location approximately 250 metres north north-west of Worrior #1.
The well is expected to intersect the three oil pools and the gas pool such that all four zones may be produced from both wells as required in order to drain the reserves effectively.
In order to ensure that production from Worrior #2 commences as quickly as possible, the well will be completed by the drilling rig and the flow line will be laid during the drilling process.
Arwon Prospect – PELs 93/113 (Stuart 88.8%)
Stuart has concluded a pre drill co-operation agreement with Cooper Energy to agree the working interests over the Arwon prospect which straddles the boundary of PEL 93 and PEL 113. Stuart will fund 88.8% of the well costs and retain an 88.8% working interest.
The prospect is 2.5km east north-east of Worrior #1 and interpreted to be closer to the source of the hydrocarbons that migrated to Worrior #1.
The Arwon prospect is similar to the Worrior field in that is has to potential to contain hydrocarbons in four reservoirs. The prospect could contain up to 15.5 million barrels of oil in place in three reservoirs [McKinlay, Birkhead and Hutton] and 2.5 BCF of gas in place in the lowermost Patchawarra formation.
Jezabeel Prospect (Stuart 66.67%)
Following the Harpoono exploration success Beach has elected to exercise its option to earn a 33.33% interest in the PEL 113 Dunoon block [57 km2] which contains the Harpoono well and surrounding structures. Beach will fund the drilling of a second well on the adjacent Jezabeel prospect approximately 2.5km south west of the Harpoono field .
Jezabeel will be targeting 1.6 million barrels of potential oil in place in the Murta and McKinlay and Hutton formations
Conclusion
Stuart Petroleum’s 2004 program consists of a minimum of eight exploration wells and one development, the largest in Stuart’s history. This program is already the most successful in Stuart’s short history and is building a significant platform for future growth. The attached table and chart summarises the program and location of the wells.
Yours faithfully,
Tino Guglielmo Chief Executive Officer
Cheers
Badfish
STU Price at posting:
0.0¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
