BEACH ENERGY LIMITED — M&A Activity 2011

Feb 20, 2011

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For Immediate Release – 21 February 2011 Ref. #024/11

BEACH TO COMPLETE ACQUISITION OF IMPRESS AFTER SENEX ACCEPTS BEACH’S OFFER

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Beach advises:

• it has increased its relevant interest in Impress to 96% after Senex sold its 20 percent stake in Impress

• it will proceed to compulsory acquisition of all outstanding Impress shares

• it looks forward to working with Senex to develop the jointly-held Cooper Basin Western Flank assets

Beach Energy Limited (ASX: BPT, “Beach”) announces it has acquired Senex Energy Limited’s (ASX: SXY, “Senex”) (formerly Victoria Petroleum NL) 20% stake in Impress Energy Limited (ASX: ITC, “Impress”), allowing Beach to commence procedures for the compulsory acquisition of all remaining Impress shares.

Beach welcomes the announcement from Senex that it has accepted the offer for the shares it held in Impress. The acceptance by Senex, the next biggest shareholder after Beach, has taken Beach's relevant interest in Impress to 96%.

Senex is a 60% joint venture partner in Impress’s Cooper Basin Western Flank tenements and will remain the operator of the joint venture. Beach is looking forward to working with Senex and its technical staff to further develop these Cooper Basin assets once floodwaters in the area recede.

Beach Managing Director, Reg Nelson, welcomed the decision by Senex to accept Beach's offer: "We have great respect for Senex as a joint venture partner. We believe there is significant potential for exploration in the area, for both conventional and unconventional oil, but it will require commitment and significant expenditure to realise this in a timely manner.

“Our respective teams have excellent technical skills, which will be supported by Beach's extensive experience, as well as our existing infrastructure in the region."

The tenement area held by Impress and Senex borders Beach's PEL 91 tenement (as detailed in the diagram below) which is home to the Chiton-1 oil discovery. The Beach Western Flank tenements are part of an aggressive 16 well drill campaign which is targeting potentially significant oil fields of between 0.5 million barrels to 5.5 million barrels during the 2011 calendar year.

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ASX Release

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After the close of the offer today, Beach will proceed to compulsory acquisition of the remaining Impress shares it does not own.

Impress shareholders who have not sold their shares into the offer before the close will receive a compulsory acquisition notice from Beach. The notice will detail how the compulsory acquisition will proceed.

Within five business days of announcement of the compulsory acquisition by Beach, Impress shares will be suspended from quotation and will no longer be tradeable on ASX. Impress will subsequently be removed from the official list of ASX.

In relation to the consolidation of Impress and its results, Beach will consolidate Impress' financials into its half year results and will move to 100% ownership by 30 June 2011.

Also, as a result of Beach's recent announcement regarding the impairment of the Basker-MantaGummy project, Beach will report a net loss for its half year end 31 December 2010 and expects it will report an underlying net profit after tax of approximately $19 million.

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ASX Release

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For more information contact

Corporate

Reg Nelson Beach Energy Ltd 08 8338 2833 Investor Relations Chris Jamieson Beach Energy Ltd 08 8338 2833 Media Jane Grieve FD 08 9386 1233

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