Murphy Makes Deepwater Discovery Off The Republic of Congo

Murphy Oil 1-27-2005

Murphy Oil www.murphyoilcorp.com  reports that its Azurite Marine #1 exploration well drilled in the Mer Profonde Sud (MPS) block in 4,531 feet of water offshore The Republic of Congo encountered significant oil pay in multiple reservoirs of Lower Miocene age.

"The discovery of over 160 feet of net oil pay with no associated water, in two main horizons, is an outstanding result from our first exploration well offshore deepwater Congo," said Claiborne P. Deming, Murphy Oil Corporation President and Chief Executive

Officer. "We found high-quality oil in sands with excellent reservoir properties and believe this structure could contain over 100 million barrels. There are a number of similar prospects in this area of MPS and we look forward to aggressively exploring them," he added. "The rig is currently on Azurite Marine #1 will soon move to a new structure and drill the Saphir Marine #1 well 18 kilometers away," he further explained.

Murphy, as operator, has an 85% working interest in MPS, which covers over 800,000 acres. The Congolese national oil company, Societe Nationale Petroles du Congo, holds the remaining 15%.