A 7,000 barrel production increase in the fourth quarter pushed Stuart into becoming the second largest production operator in the South Australian sector of the Cooper/Eromanga basin behind energy giant Santos.

Fourth quarter production and sales totaled 38,000 barrels (a record 74,000 barrels JV share), an increase over third quarter production of 31,000 barrels (50,000 barrels JV share) despite a 13% production downtime caused by local rains.

The company's share of annual production and sales from the Acrasia field for 2002/03 equalled 123,000 barrels (225,000 barrels JV share).

The record fourth quarter production was due to the de-bottlenecking of the Acrasia 1 and 3 wells and the installation of the jet pump on Acrasia # 2. Production from Acrasia #2 increased from 50 to 250bopd and by the end of June 2003 the Acrasia field was producing 1,250bopd.

Planned work in July and August, including the installation of pumps in the Acrasia 1 and 3 wells and a conversion of the Acrasia 1 well to a Hutton producer, will further increase production capacity.

The Hutton zone contains almost half the reserves in the field and has yet to be brought on production.

During the quarter, planning for the 2003 drilling program was advanced with drilling of the exploration targets, Kiwi # 1, in PEL 90 and Warrior #1, in PEL 93 to begin in September and October 2003 with a combined oil in place potential of 7.6 million barrels.