Austin Exploration informed the market that drilling progress is now ahead of schedule at the company's Ellislie Plantation #1 well located in Adams County, Mississippi. Target depth should be reached shortly with pay zone testing to follow.

Daily Drilling Summary •Day 1 - March 4, 2010 Site preparation has been completed. The Shamrock Drilling Company Rig #1 left the yard early this morning. Rig was erected late in the day. Spud and Drilling to commence tonight. •Day 2 - March 5, 2010 Connection issues associated with drill mud recycling system delayed spud and drilling until mid day. Circulation system was tested and passed. Drilling of mouse hole and rat hole was then completed. Drilling operations then commenced through the original hole. Drilled to a depth of 480 feet. Drilling continued. •Day 3 - March 6, 2010 Drilling continued until the bottom plug was encountered at 1,800 feet. Plug was drilled through. Drilling continued. •Day 4 - March 7, 2010 As of 4:28PM - Currently drilling at 5,933 feet. There have been no unanticipated difficulties thus far and drilling continues through the original well bore. At the current rate of penetration it can be anticipated that we will reach total depth (TD) of 6,540 feet around 6:00 AM Monday, March 8, 2010 U.S. Central Standard Time.

Anticipated Next Steps After reaching the total proposed drilling depth, we will enter a period of approximately 8 hours during which a "wiper trip" will be made up the well bore and drilling fluid will be circulated throughout the well bore to condition the hole and build up a protective "mud cake." After well conditioning, Schlumberger will rig up and run an induction array/sonic electric log to determine the exact depth of the targeted sands with potential for oil production, measuring the permeability and porosity characteristics of the formations.

After an onsite analysis of the logged information, formation cores will be shot and recovered for physical testing. Upon recovery, the dual pay zone core sample will be sent by courier to Omni Laboratories of New Orleans for same day analysis.

On Wednesday, Aus-Tex and the operator will review all available information and determine the most appropriate well completion procedures. Production casing will then be set in the well and each targeted formation will subsequently be perforated and tested.

Tags: Austin Exploration Limited