Drilling Report

Total Fina Elf.
24 July 2000



          TOTAL FINA ELF ANNOUNCES HYDROCARBON DISCOVERY IN KAZAKHSTAN

Paris, July 24, 2000 -- TotalFinaElf (14.28%) and its partners  from  Offshore
Kazakhstan International Operating Company (OKIOC) today announced an  important
discovery at the  Kashagan East 1 well, located 75  kilometres  south-east of
Atyrau in the Northeast Caspian Sea. This represents the first discovery on the
Kazakhstan shelf.

The discovery well encountered an oil-bearing  interval in the Palaeozoic
Carbonates below 4,000 metres.  Two tests have been planned, the first  of 
which in  the lower section flowed at a rate of up to 600 cubic meters of oil
per day and  200,000 cubic meters of gas per day on a 32/64' choke. Oil gravity 
measured at the well-site ranged between 42 and 44 degrees API. The well was
drilled in 3 metres (10 feet) of water to a total depth of nearly 5,200 metres
(16,400 feet)

OKIOC General Manager Keith Dallard said: 'OKI0C and its Shareholders are
encouraged by the data we have received to date and we hope that continued
exploration and appraisal drilling will further support these initial results.

We will continue to analyse the information obtained during the drilling and
testing programme to learn more about the characteristics of the hydrocarbons
that we have encountered and the nature of the Kashagan field.'

Kashagan East 1 is the first well drilled by OKIOC. Drilling activities at
Kashagan West, a second  exploration location 4Okm from the Kashagan  East
location, will be commenced in the fourth quarter of the year.

OKIOC is  conducting an exploration programme in the Northeast Caspian Sea on
behalf of a  consortium of nine international shareholders. OKIOC shareholders
include subsidiaries of ENI, BG, BP Amoco,  ExxonMobil, Inpex, Phillips
Petroleum, Shell, Statoil and TotafFinaElf.

TotafFinaElf points out that this important discovery is a very positive  sign
for the Group, which plans to continue its exploration and development policy in
a  region offering very promising prospects. The Group is also present  in  the
Azerbaidjan sector of the Caspian Sea on the Lenkoran (35%), Absheron  (20%) and
Shah Deniz (10%) permits. An Important discovery was made on Shah Deniz in July
1999.

Media Contacts: Thomas Saunders  33-1-47-44-42-30 
              - Eve Gautier-Roux 33-1-47-44-47-65
                Fabien Ghez      33-1-47-44-63-77 
                www.totalfinaelf.com