Oilex was the big winner in the last two days with 15 million shares changing hands yesterday pushing the stock up from 15 cents at opening to be trading at 65 cents at press time today. It closed at 51c last night.

VicPet opened yesterday at 2.7c, closing at 2.9c with more than 80 million shares traded. It opened stronger this morning at 3.3c, and with another 88 million shares traded by press time, it had eased slightly to be selling at 3.2c.

Following an initial in the top of the target Boxvale Sandstone 552m of dark green oil equivalent to 13.5 barrels of oil was recovered in the drill string with no water over a flow period of 55 minutes. The company said this calculated to a flow rate of 352 bopd.

It said the well would be capable of producing more if put on artificial lift.

The Rookwood Prospect is interpreted from seismic data to have the potential to contain up to 12 million barrels of recoverable oil in the target Jurassic Boxvale Sandstone, subject to the determination of the amount of oil column present following the completion of drilling and wire line logs.

This morning oil fluorescence shows were observed over a five metre interval in the target Boxvale Sandstone from 1377–1382m.

“The five metre fluorescence indicates to us that the reservoir could be holding about a third to half of its potential so we are possibly looking at four to six million barrels,” said Oilex managing director David Archibald.

“To get a better picture of the size of the reservoir we will have to do some more seismic and drill a few step out wells before the wet season sets in. We already know it is commercial we just need to know how much is there.

“While the flow is slow with only 350 barrels now we will introduce several more producing wells and artificial lift to raise production to a solid level,” added Archibald.

Oilex said the full significance of the oil discovery will be determined by analysis of the DST charts and subsequent wire line logs to be run following the drilling of the remaining Boxvale Sandstone target to determine the extent of the oil column.

“This means a lot for the company being our first producing well so we are pretty excited. Even if the reserve comes in at a fraction of the estimated 12 million possible barrels it is a great step forward for Oilex,” said Oilex director Max Cozijn.

Interests in the Surat Basin well are Oilex 59.06%, Victoria Petroleum NL 29.69% and private interests 11.25%.