The company today said POE-3 is about 270m northeast of the Wichian Buri-1 producing well, which has been the best producing oil well in the field with 11 years of production.

“The program goal for POE-3 is as an infill development well to boost production from the F sandstone reservoir within the Wichian Buri oil field,” Carnarvon said.

“Seismic interpretation indicates that POE-3 is located 10 metres updip of the Wichian Buri-1 well and may capture attic reserves not currently being drained by existing production wells.

“The G sandstone reservoir will be a secondary target.”

The company said it had also finished drilling the POE-6 exploration well, which has been suspended and is ready to be flow tested using the smaller workover rig once perforation charges arrive onsite.

POE-6 is located 500m north and 35m structurally updip from WB-3, a well drilled in the late 1980s that flowed oil to surface from a thin oil column over water.

The well will test a large area of possible reserves in a separate fault block west of the main Wichian Buri field. Carnarvon said success at this well could add significant additional reserves to the greater Wichian Buri field.

Carnarvon has a 40% interest in the permit, while operator Pan Orient owns the remaining stake.