Tap Oil, one of the partners in the joint venture, said a gross 19.6 metre oil column was intersected at the top of Flag Sandstone Reservoir by the South Plato-34 development well, which was drilled to address the increased water cut in the South Plato-1 production well.

"The well will now be plugged back and the planned horizontal sidetrack drilled for production," Tap Oil said.

"Once drilled, the South Plato-3H well will replace the existing South Plato-1 production well.

"Tap interprets this as a good result and expects that South Plato-3 well will significantly increase oil production from the field starting next week."

Participants in the Harriet JV include Tap Oil (12.2229%), Apache Energy (68.5%) and Kufpec Australia (19.2771%).