Hydrocarbon discovery

BHP Billiton Limited
15 November 2004

'BHP Billiton Limited is issuing this announcement to fulfil disclosure 
obligations arising from its secondary listing on the London Stock Exchange.  
The text of this announcement is identical to that issued by BHP Billiton Plc 
earlier.'

  Date         15 November 2004
  Number       38/04

            BHP BILLITON CONFIRMS HYDROCARBON DISCOVERY WITH SHENZI-3
                                        
                      APPRAISAL WELL IN THE GULF OF MEXICO


BHP Billiton today announced the results of its second appraisal well on the
Shenzi discovery in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. Shenzi-3 began drilling in May
2004 with the BHP Billiton operated drillship CR Luigs on Green Canyon Block
653. The discovery is located approximately 14 kilometres (9 miles) northwest of
the company's Atlantis field, which is currently in development.

Located in water depths of 1,327metres (4,355 feet) and drilled to a total depth
approaching 8,512 metres (28,000 feet), Shenzi-3 successfully encountered
hydrocarbons in lower Miocene-aged reservoirs with approximately 100 metres (330
feet) of net oil pay in a 125-metre (410 feet) gross hydrocarbon column. An
updip sidetrack well subsequently drilled from the initial wellbore confirmed
the presence of a hydrocarbon column. Drilling is currently underway on another
sidetrack well to collect additional reservoir data and further corroborate the
information found from the first two penetrations at Shenzi-3

Philip Aiken, President of BHP Billiton's Energy Group, said today, 'This is
further evidence of the Gulf of Mexico becoming the third core business for our
Petroleum Customer Sector Group. We've been very pleased with the results we
have thus far from drilling at Shenzi-3, and the indications are that we could
have a commercial field with a multi-hundred million barrel hydrocarbon
resource. We are planning further appraisal drilling to more fully delineate the
reservoir.'

The information from Shenzi-3 validates previous drilling results. This includes
Shenzi-1, drilled in 2002, which encountered a gross hydrocarbon column of 142
metres (465 feet) with a net pay of 42.5 metres (140 feet), and Shenzi-2,
drilled in 2003, which encountered a 381-metre (1,250 feet) gross hydrocarbon
column and 152 metres (500 feet) of net oil pay in lower Miocene sandstones.

BHP Billiton is the designated operator at Shenzi and holds a 44 percent 
interest in the field. Amerada Hess and BP each hold a 28 percent interest.

BHP Billiton's exploration and development portfolio in the Gulf of Mexico
includes the development of the Mad Dog (BHP Billiton share 23.9%) and Atlantis
(BHP Billiton share 44%) fields that are due to start production by year-end
2004 and in the third quarter of 2006, respectively. BHP Billiton is among the
top leaseholders in the Gulf with interests in more than 430 blocks.


Further information on BHP Billiton can be found on our Internet site: 
http://www.bhpbilliton.com

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Tania Price, Media Relations                       
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Francis McAllister, Investor Relations 
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South Africa 
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