Carnarvon company secretary Trevor Irwin said the HP-1 exploration well, located 1.5km to the northwest in the Wichian Buri

('WB') oil field, would target the 'F' sandstone reservoir, which was productive throughout the WB field. Secondary targets were the 'G' and 'E' sandstones, and the well would take about 12 days to reach the total depth of 1050m.

The HP-1 well is the first of two drilling campaigns in the WB field.

The second round of drilling will comprise the horizontal development wells, N7 and N8, in the northern part of the WB oil pool.

Pacific Tiger Energy president Mike Cvetanovic said success at HP-1 would make a significant addition to proved reserves.

The horizontal drilling would target the oil-bearing 'F' sands in the northern part of the WB oil pool and reservoir modeling indicated substantially improved well deliverability and reserve recovery rates could be expected compared to vertical wells, added Cvetanovic from Calgary.

Recoverable reserves at Wichian Buri are in excess of 10 million barrels of oil.