The Lacerta 43 well - along with the Lacerta 44 well that is currently being completed by the Eastern Well Services Rig 15 - is designed to optimise productivity in the eastern part of the Lacerta project area.
Production testing of Lacerta 44 is expected to start by the weekend.
Once workover operations at the well are completed, the EWS Rig 15 will move to the Lacerta 41 and 42 single well pilots for similar preparation.
The two wells were drilled to test the productivity of the western part of the Lacerta gas field following encouraging results in nearby core holes.
The Mitchell Drilling Rig 101 is scheduled to start Phase I development well drilling within the project area by the end of April, according to Sunshine.
Final well design will incorporate results of production data from the four pilot wells.
The company had in late March started front-end engineering and design work for the development of the field.
A consortium comprising GHD and Delco Australia was selected to carry out the FEED study and - subject to a satisfactory outcome and all necessary regulatory approvals - instructed to proceed with full material procurement and construction of the Lacerta gas plant.
Phase One of Lacerta's field development includes the construction of a 30 petajoule per annum gas processing and dehydration plant, an 8PJ per annum compression capacity and a further 40 production wells at an estimated total cost of $67 million.
The project will supply the domestic gas market and the company's planned 500,000-tonne-per-annum liquefied natural gas project at Gladstone.
Meanwhile, Sunshine said it has started a seven-well appraisal drilling program at its Atria coal seam gas project.
Last year the company drilled two core holes that encountered encouraging net coal intersections and gas desorption results that it followed up with a 110km 2D seismic survey that indicated multiple coal seam packages were present in ATP 684P.
Sunshine has also completed drilling of the Crocker Gully 2 exploration well and had acquired continuous core with numerous samples taken throughout the targeted Baralaba coal measures on the eastern flank of ATP 685P.
Wireline logs have been acquired and drill stem tests carried out over prospective intervals to access coal permeability.
