Santos acquires two exploration blocks offshore E. Kalimantan

Australian listed oil company Santos Limited announced Tuesday that it had taken up a 20 percent non-operated interest in two deep-water exploration blocks off-shore East Kalimantan.

The Popodi and Papalang Production Sharing Contract (PSC) areas lie in the deepwater portion of the Kutei Basin, offshore East Kalimantan, in water depths ranging from 1,650 to 2,450 metres (5,500 to 8,000 feet).

"This is frontier acreage in deep-water that adds to Santos' high-impact exploration program. It is high risk, but it is a good strategic fit and with the right joint venture team to do the job", said Santos' Managing Director, John Ellice-Flint.

The PSC's were originally awarded to Zodan NV and Zudavi NV respectively (operators), with majors Unocal and AGIP farming-in shortly after the blocks were awarded by the Indonesian government in November 2001.

Following the farm-in, interests in the PSC's will be:

POPODI PSC:	PAPALANG PSC:
Unocal Popodi, Ltd 24%	Unocal Papalang, Ltd 24%
AGIP Popodi Ltd 25%	AGIP Papalang Ltd 25%
Zodan NV (Operator) 31%	Zudavi NV (Operator) 31%
Santos (Popodi) Pty Ltd 20%	Santos (Papalang) Pty Ltd 20%

Both PSCs are located seaward of West Seno, Indonesia's first deep-water producing oil-field which is scheduled to come on-stream in the third quarter of 2003.

According to Santos, three exploration wells targeting oil are planned to be drilled during the three-year exploration program - two in the Popodi PSC and one in the Papalang PSC. Unocal will be drilling the wells. The first well is expected to be drilled in the Popodi PSC in October 2003. The work program for both PSC's includes the licensing and acquisition of 2D and 3D seismic data. (robert)