Beach reported a new field oil discovery has been made at Hanson-1, the first well in a five well exploration drilling campaign in PEL 91.

A gross oil column of seven meters, with five meters of net pay, was encountered in the Namur Sandstone section of the well. Preliminary volumetric assessment suggests up to one million barrels of recoverable oil (gross), with oil shows also encountered over a twenty four meter interval in the Birkhead Formation. These shows are currently being evaluated on wireline logs.

Hanson-1 is expected to be on-line in the third quarter of 2011, with transportation of oil from PEL 91 to be undertaken by truck in the short to medium term.

Following the completion of the evaluation program, the Ensign#18 rig will be moved to the Snellings-1 exploration well which is located about 1.5 kilometers to the north of Hanson-1.

Tags: Beach Petroleum Limited