Milestone reflects dramatic Beach growth

The spudding this week of an oil appraisal well in a remote corner of western....

  The spudding this week of an oil appraisal well in a remote corner of western Queensland has marked an historic achievement for energy group, Beach Petroleum.The commencement of drilling on the Jackson-53 well, in the Naccowlah Block’s Jackson Field, marked 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 around 150 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 10 years, as the company participated in a total of only five wells in the 1997 financial year.During 2007, Beach participated in more than 65 wells associated with the Cooper Oil Project (COP), which has enjoyed a 70% success rate, commensurate with pre-drill expectations. The company said it expects a similar level of activity in its tenements in 2008.Beach’s entitlement to the COP’s production and revenue upside was engineered in September last year when the company captured all of the production and exploration assets of Delhi Petroleum – centred on the Cooper Basin – in a A$574m 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.Beach Petroleum’ Managing Director, Reg Nelson said that while this was an historic milestone for the company, its 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.“This approach has considerable potential to add incremental, but nonetheless significant, daily barrel averages to our total production profile,” Mr Nelson said.“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,” he said.