New Oil Discovery By Santos – Moomba 136 2^nd Mar 2001

Santos Ltd, as Operator for the PPL 9 Joint Venture Parties, announces the discovery of a new oil discovery in the South Australian section of the Cooper/Eromanga Basins.

The Moomba 136 exploration well has reached a total depth of 2179m after penetrating a 10.4m oil column in the Jurassic Hutton Sandstone. A drill stem test (DST 1) conducted over the interval 1997m-2007m flowed 51° API oil to surface at 611 kilolitres per day (3845 barrels per day) at a flowing tubing head pressure of 210 psig. The test, which was conducted through a 13mm (1/2″) surface choke, is the second highest oil flow recorded from the South Australian section of the Cooper Basin.

The well will be cased and suspended as a future oil producer, with production expected to commence by the end of March 2001.

Commenting, the General Manager of Santos South Australian Business Unit, Mr Jon Young said:

“Moomba 136 is the first new oil discovery this year, and represents the sixth culmination that has been discovered in the greater Moomba complex.

This well can be brought into production quickly to take advantage of current high oil prices.

The discovery has implications for several nearby prospects and Santos is considering follow-up drilling in 2001″.

The Moomba 136 well is located approximately 11 km south of the Moomba plant.

The interests in PPL 9 are: