Santos Ltd. (STO.AU) said Thursday that it has struck gas in the prolific Browse Basin offshore Western Australia state, and it is working to see if the find is commercial.

Adelaide-based Santos said the Burnside-1ST1 exploration well hit a 65-meter gas column, noting the geology was the same as nearby gas fields including Ichthys being developed by Japan's Inpex Holdings Inc. (1605.TO)

"An appraisal plan will be developed to define the size of the resource," said Trevor Brown, Santos's vice-president of exploration.

The well was drilled in 215 meters of water in the WA-281-P permit.

Santos has a 47.8% interest in the permit and acts as operator. Other shareholders are Chevron Corp. (CVX), Inpex, and Beach Petroleum Ltd. (BPT.AU)

-By David Winning, Dow Jones Newswires; +61-2-82724688; david.winning@dowjones.com
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