Santos will be hoping it can emulate the earlier success of the two Woodside and Origin discoveries with the Casino well, which lies on the same trend. The prospect lies in Vic/P44 and could have reserves as large as a trillion cubic feet.

Santos has scheduled the Ocean Bounty semi-submersible to commence drilling on the 20th August.

The application of advanced seismic data processing, known as AVO technology, across the Casino prospect has recognised amplitude characteristics on the seismic data which are considered indicative of a potential gas accumulation.

The technology has been used with great success in recent onshore and offshore gas discoveries made in the Otway Basin.