Offshore staff

ADELAIDE, Australia -- Australia's Santos Ltd. has committed $70 million for an eight-year work program on the first of two deepwater concessions in the Bay of Bengal.

Santos subsidiary Santos International Operations Pty. Ltd. has been awarded 100% working interest and operatorship of 16,500-sq-km (6,371 sq mi) NEC-DWN-2004/1 and NEC-DWN-2004/2 in the Northeast Coast basin in the northern part of the bay.

The blocks lie 175 km (109 mi) from the Indian coast in water depths ranging from 400 m to 2,300 m (1,312-7,546 ft).

The work program for block NEC-DWN-2004/2 includes 2D and 3D seismic surveys and one exploration well. The work program for NEC-DWN-2004/1 consists of 2D and 3D seismic surveys.

John Ellice-Flint, managing director at Santos, says the blocks are well situated within the emerging Tertiary clastic Bengal Fan play that has proven successful in recent gas discoveries in the northern Bay of Bengal.

The two blocks are part of the 52 blocks offered under India's New Exploration Licensing Policy bid round VI, which were recently by the Indian Government.

2/12/2007