UK's Premier discovers oil and gas offshore Vietnam

London (Platts)--30Jun2006

UK' explorer Premier Oil and its partners have made an oil and gas
discovery in an offshore Vietnam block, the company and its partners said
Friday.

The Dua-4X exploration well currently being drilled in Block 12E offshore
Vietnam found oil and gas, but no stem test was performed.

The well was drilled down-flank from the 1974 Dua-1X discovery well which
flowed at 1,500 b/d, the company said.

Block 12E is operated and 37.5% held by Premier Oil and includes
Australian E&P company Santos (37.5%) and Israel's Delek Energy with the
remaining 25%.

Following the intersection of hydrocarbons in the Dua-4X vertical well, a
sidetrack was drilled to provide further geological information, Premier said.
Wireline testing of both Dua-4X and Dua-4X ST1 recovered oil samples, core and
pressure data, which will help define the quantity and quality of hydrocarbons
in the northern flank of the Dua structure.

A second sidetrack, Dua-4X ST2, will now be drilled to evaluate potential
gas and oil reservoirs in the southern fault block of the Dua structure,
Premier said. Following completion of the second sidetrack, the 12E-CS-1X well
is to be drilled on the Blackbird prospect to explore a large tilted fault
block updip of the pre-existing well, 12E-LK-1X, which encountered "very good
oil shows."

Premier's shares were trading 2% higher at 965 pence ($17.83) in London
by 1034 GMT.

"I am pleased that Premier's first operated well in Vietnam has provided
confirmation of oil and gas in Dua's northern fault block," Premier's CEO
Simon Lockett said in a statement. "We look forward to the results of the
sidetrack into the southern fault block."

Santos agreed to take a 37.5% stake in Vietnam's Block 12E and Block 12W
in April this year. The farm-in will become fully effective once the company
has funded a portion of the costs of the two-well drilling program.

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