Beach Energy reports Western Flank oil discovery

ADELAIDE, Australia -- Beach Energy has reported a new Birkhead formation oil discovery at Stanleys-1 in PRL 171 (Beach 40% and operator, Drillsearch 60%) and provided initial results from the first development well of the second Bauer field pad drilling campaign.

Stanleys-1. Located in PRL 171 (within the former PEL 91) on the Western Flank, the Stanleys-1 exploration well is located 3.9 km northeast of the Balgowan-1 oil discovery and 3.5 km southwest of Spitfire field.

Stanleys-1 reached total depth on March 5 with strong oil shows encountered through the Birkhead formation. Wireline logs indicated a seven m gross reservoir interval corresponding to the strong oil shows. A drill stem test over an interval from 1,713 m to 1,724 m (measured depth) recovered 23 bbl of oil over 117 minutes at a calculated rate of 280 bopd.

Consequently, Stanleys-1 will be cased and suspended as a future oil producer. Once the well is cased and suspended, the Ensign 930 rig will move from Stanleys-1 to Longbottoms-1, the next oil exploration well in the former PEL 91 permit.

Bauer-23. The second four well pad drilling campaign commenced in the north of Bauer field in February, targeting the highly productive Namur Sandstone reservoir and overlying McKinlay Member. Top hole batch drilling at Bauer-20, 21 and 22 was completed in February, with Bauer-23 subsequently drilled to total depth.

Real-time logging while drilling data from Bauer-23 indicated the target top Namur Sandstone was intersected approximately three m high to prognosis, with a preliminary estimate of six m of net oil pay and an additional four m oil bearing gross interval of overlying McKinlay Member. The well will be cased and suspended as a future producer.