AWEs Drilling Updates for Tui SW-2(New Zealand) and Redback-2(Australia)

AWE’s Tui SW-2 drilling update

AWE Limited advises that at 0600 hours today, the Tui SW-2 well was at a measured depth of 1573 metres after running and cementing 9-5/8” casing. The forward plan is to drill 8-1/2” hole to total depth.

The Tui SW prospect is located in mining licence PMP 38158 in the offshore Taranaki Basin and is adjacent to the producing Tui oilfield.

The Tui SW-2 well is planned to be drilled to a total depth of approximately 3,725 metres. At the conclusion of drilling, Tui SW-2 will be cased and suspended as a possible future gas injection well.

Kahu-1, to the east of the Tui oilfield, will be drilled immediately following Tui SW-2. Tuatara-1 will follow as the fourth exploration well in the current AWE-operated campaign.

Participants in Tui SW-2 and PMP 38158 are:

AWE Limited (Operator) 42.5%

Mitsui E&P Australia Pty Limited 35.0%

Stewart Petroleum Co Limited (NZOG) 12.5%

WM Petroleum Limited (PPP) 10.0%

AWE’s Redback-2 drilling update

AWE Limited reports that at 0600 hours (WA time) today, the Redback-2 well was coring within the Kockatea Shale at a measured depth of 3,808 metres. Progress for the week was 199 metres.

The Redback prospect straddles the permit boundary between L11 and EP 320 in the onshore Perth Basin and is located 2 kilometres east- northeast of the Beharra Springs gas plant.

The well is being drilled from the Redback-1 well pad to a total measured depth of approximately 3,980 metres. The well will assess the gas potential of the Wagina Sandstone, which is productive at the nearby Beharra Springs and Redback South gas fields, and also retrieve a core in the lower Kockatea Shale to assess the shale gas potential of the unit.

Redback-1 which was drilled in 2004 did not intersect the target Wagina Sandstone due to it having been faulted out and the well was therefore not a definitive test of the structure. Subsequently, Redback South-1 was drilled in 2009 on an independent structure to the south of the Redback Fault. The well encountered gas filled reservoir in the Wagina Sandstone, which has tested at a stabilized rates of 11.5 million cubic feet of gas per day limited by test facilities.

Following Redback-2, the joint venture will drill the Wolf-1 exploration well, which will further test the Redback South fault block.

Participants in the Redback-2 well and L11 are:

AWE Limited 33.0%

Origin Energy Developments Pty Ltd (Operator) 67.0%

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Source: AWE, May 27, 2010;