BEACH ENERGY LIMITED — Regulatory Filings 2007

Dec 16, 2007

Registered /Business Office : Level 2, 161 Walker Street, North Sydney, NSW, Australia, 2060. Phone (61) 2 9929 3383 Fax (61) 2 9929 3883 Email : admin@greatoil.com.au

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ASX ANNOUNCEMENT

Date : 17 December 2007

To : Australian Stock Exchange Limited

Companies Announcement Office Electronic Lodgement System

- Ballaparudda 1 Plugged & Abandoned (PEL 91 South Australian Cooper Basin)

Great Artesian Oil and Gas Limited (“GOG”) advises that the current status of the Ballaparudda-1 exploration well is as follows :

Time of Report : 08:00 hours (CST) 17 December 2007. Well Depth : 1963m (Total Depth) Current Operation : Setting cement plugs Forward Operations : Plug and Abandon – Release Rig

Ballaparudda-1 will be plugged and abandoned after wireline logs and sidewall-cores over the weekend failed to determine the presence of a commercial oil accumulation in either the Murta Formation or Birkhead Formation, where hydrocarbon shows (fluorescence) had been observed during drilling. The rig is expected to be released today, 17 December 2007.

The well reached a Total Depth (TD) of 1963m at 07:00hrs (CST) on Friday 14 December. Ballaparudda-1 spudded at 10:30 hrs (CST) on 6 December 2007 and took 8 days to drill and 3 days to evaluate.

Despite the fact that Ballaparudda-1 has not resulted in a commercial oil discovery, Ballaparudda-1 did encounter oil shows within the objective formations and has confirmed the presence of hydrocarbons migrating into this part of PEL91, increasing the likelihood of finding a commercial oil accumulation with future wells. As previously noted, experience in the adjacent permits has shown that each prospect has its own independent risk and that not every structure in the ‘fairway’ is filled with oil.

Ballaparudda-1 was the first of two wells planned by the PEL91 joint venture to test prospects in the ‘oil fairway’ between the Christies, Sellicks, Callawonga and Parsons oil discoveries in PEL92 to the southwest and the Growler and Wirraway oil discoveries in PEL104 to the northeast. Ballaparudda-1 was an oil exploration well that tested the Jurassic potential of an anticlinal structure on the western flank of the Patchawarra Trough in PEL 91. Ballaparudda-1 is about 25 km north of Callawonga and 18 km southwest of the Growler discovery.

The second well in this ‘oil fairway’, Murrippi-1, is expected to spud in February with Century Rig #3. The Murrippi-1 well will test an anticlinal structure ‘on-trend’ with the Sellicks Oilfield with multiple primary targets in the Jurassic - Namur Sandstone, Birkhead Formation and Hutton sandstone as well as the Poolowanna Formation and Permian Patchawarra Formation.

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Structure map at Top Namur horizon showing location of the Ballaparudda-1 and Murrippi1 wells in PEL91 relative to oil discoveries in adjoining permits and other prospects and leads in PEL91

Interests in Ballaparudda-1 and Murrippi-1 are as follows:

Beach Petroleum Limited (Operator)	40.0%
Great Artesian Oil and Gas Limited	60.0%

A time-depth chart follows on the next page as an illustration of drilling progress.

Further details can be obtained on the company’s web site or by contacting Andy Carroll, Managing Director on 02 9929 3383.

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----- Start of picture text ----- WELL DETAILSRIG: Hunt Rig 2Ballaparudda #1GL: 20.5 m (MSL)RT : 24 . 3 m (MSL)Time Depth CurveTD: 1936 m (MD)CURRENT DEPTH:Total depth 1963 m PEL 106 Latitude: 27 Location (Zone 54 GDA94) [0] 40' 45.88"Cooper Basin SA Longitude: 139 [0] 25' 26.68"OPERATION: Plug & Abandon Easting: 344 584 mNorthing 6 937 317 m0PROPOSED DEPTHACTUAL DEPTH200400Set Surface Casing, Nippleup BOP's, Perform LOT60080010001200Possible DST ZoneNamur Sandstone 1394 m1400Bit change1600Birkhead /Hutton 1713 m1800Logging , Evaluation ,Poolowanna Fm 1883 m Plug and AbandonDAYS FROM SPUD20000 2 4 6 8 10 12 14TDDEPTH (m)----- End of picture text -----