New $225 million LNG and oil exploration for Santos

Santos will focus on LNG and oil in a new 25 well, high-impact exploration program announced today for 2006.
The $225 million project will include two wells to be drilled in offshore Western Australia, in the Carnarvon Basin.
Other Australian sites include Queensland's Bowen Basin, two in the Otway Basin and three wells in the onshore Cooper Basin.
There will be eight wells in Indonesia's Timor-Bonaparte region, three in Egypt and four in the Gulf of Mexico.
"This 2006 program takes Santos another step towards its stated policy of building a more globally-focused exploration effort as a key plank in our overall growth strategy," said Santos' Managing Director John Ellice-Flint.
The news of the upcoming exploration program comes on the heels of solid fourth quarter 05 sales revenue for Santos - up 39 per cent on the December quarter of 2004.
Mr Ellice-Flint said the results were a testament to the strategy of growing the business outside the east coast of Australia.
The Mutineer-Exeter oil, condensate and LPG project in offshore WA contributed to the result.
However, the result was down 11 per cent on the September quarter 2005.