Joint Venture

ENTERPRISE OIL PLC
31 August 1999


Enterprise announces new venture in Brazil

Enterprise Oil today announced that agreement has been reached with
co-venturers Petrobras, Elf and Shell, to establish a new joint venture to
explore for hydrocarbons in the deep waters of the Campos Basin, Brazil. 

Block BC-2, the subject of the joint venture, covers an area of 2,600 square
kilometres. The block is located 150 kilometres offshore from Rio de Janeiro
State in the Campos Basin, a proven hydrocarbon province that has seen
considerable exploration success in recent years. This highly sought-after
block has seen no drilling activity, lies close to the area of Petrobras's
existing major discoveries, and exhibits similar geological characteristics.
The work programme is due to commence upon approval from the National
Petroleum Agency.

Chief Executive Pierre Jungels commented, 'This is an extremely exciting
opportunity for Enterprise in a world-class petroleum province, and the block
offers the potential for giant discoveries. BC-2 is an excellent start to our
aim of creating a significant business in Brazil, and we are actively pursuing
further E&P partnerships with Petrobras to build on this initial success.'

Co-venturers in BC-2 are:

Enterprise Oil do Brasil Ltda               15 per cent
Elf Petroleos do Brasil Ltda                35 per cent (operator)
Petrobras Brasileiro S.A.                   35 per cent
Shell Brasil S.A.                           15 per cent


For further information please contact:

Patrick d'Ancona, Head of Public Relations                       0171 925 4160
Peter Reilly, Head of Investor Relations                         0171 925 4476


Notes to Editors: 

The Brazilian oil industry

Until the recent de-regulation of the Brazilian petroleum industry, all
exploration and production in the Campos Basin and elsewhere in Brazil was
carried out by Petrobras, the Brazilian state company. The company has set a
succession of world records for deepwater production in the Campos Basin, with
the latest being early production from the Roncador field at 1,853 metres of
water. Recent exploration drilling has been carried out by Petrobras in water
depths in excess of 2,400 metres.

The Campos Basin

Daily production from the Campos Basin is currently around 1 million barrels
of oil equivalent per day. Proven and probable reserves discovered in the
Campos Basin to date are approximately 12 billion barrels of oil. This
qualifies the basin as a world class petroleum province.

The first deepwater giant discovery in Campos was made in 1984 in the Albacora
field. Since then a further several giant discoveries have been made in
progressively deeper waters; the most recent of which is Roncador, discovered
in 1996. The development of several ultra-deep water fields are currently
under way, or being planned by Petrobras for the next few years. This includes
the giant Roncador and Marlim Sul fields, both with reserves in excess of 2
billion barrels. 

Block BC-2

The block covers a large area encompassing 2,596 square kilometres, which is
approximately equivalent in size to that of ten Central North Sea blocks. BC-2
lies in water depths ranging from 2,000 to 2,700 metres. No drilling has yet
been undertaken in the block.