Last month, the company was forced to abandon attempts to remove the stuck drill stem test tools and instead sidetrack around them.

Eagle Bay said yesterday that drilling contractor Schlumberger had successfully wireline logged across the sidetrack interval, including the Patchawarra Formation, to the new total depth of 3157 metres.

This logging confirmed the presence of the same productive reservoir sands in the Toolachee and Epsilon formations that were drill stem tested in the original hole, Eagle Bay said.

The logs indicated the well had encountered several additional prospective gas sands in the Patchawarra Formation, which will be production tested later.

Preliminary analysis of log and DST data suggests the well may exceed its pre-drill objective, finding 15 billion cubic feet of gas, according to Eagle Bay.

It added that nearby follow-up prospects could be tied into Vanessa-1 to increase proven reserves and gas deliverability to sales point.

As of Tuesday night, the Vanessa-1 well had been cased and suspended as a future Permian gas producer.

The PEL 182 JV comprises Audax Resources with a 49.9% stake, Eagle Bay (operator with 37.6%), Dome Resources (7.5%) and Australian Oil (5%).