Five wells have been planned for the company’s SA assets in the Cooper Basin starting in August after the original campaign was delayed by wet weather. Roma said that on current mapping the prospects are large enough to contain potential recoverable reserves of six - 30 million barrels of oil equivalent.

As reported recently, operator Oilex has advised Roma that the planned Connolly-1 well, targeting 26 million barrels in central Queensland, will also spud in August after being delayed by mechanical problems. While the issue apparently concerned only a minor pump and is now fixed, operators have been more stringent before accepting drilling rigs after the two blowouts experienced by Origin Energy and Century Drilling in the last two years.

Meanwhile Roma is watching with interest (it holds a 5% royalty stake) as Lakes Oil embarks on a fraccing program to stimulate production from the tight gas-bearing sandstones in four Victorian wells; Trifon-2, North Seaspray-3 and Wombat-1 & 2.