The latest drill stem test, the third on Christies-2, returned a flow rate of 528 barrels of oil per day (bopd) through a ¼ inch choke over a five metre interval between 1,636 – 1,641m in the Birkhead/Hutton Formation.

Two other new oil zone discoveries were made in the shallower Namur Sandstone in the past week.

Christies-2 is located about 280m southwest of the 11-month old Christies-1 production well in PEL-92, 85km west of Moomba.

“The emerging multi-reservoir profile of Christies-2 adds considerable credence to our modelling that the lightly explored western flanks of the Cooper Basin offer substantial scope for profitable oil discoveries,” Beach Petroleum’s managing director, Reg Nelson, said today.

“It has long been our view that the flanks of the western and southern portions of the Cooper Basin in South Australia are as prospective as the proven areas just across the border in far southwest Queensland,” Nelson said.

“The multiple stacked reservoirs at Christies reinforce that oil has migrated in considerable quantities from within the Patchawarra Trough of the Cooper Basin into the overlying Eromanga Basin along the western flank,” he said.

“There is much more work to do, but we are now even more confident that this region will yield further new field discoveries with multi-stacked reservoirs.

“Subject to further evaluation, we expect the discovery of two new oil reservoirs from Christies-2 and the increase in size of the Birkhead/Hutton oil pool will increase the reserves and productivity potential of the broader Christies oil field.”

Christies-1 was drilled in July last year and brought into production by October, producing at an average rate of 450 bopd.

“We expect that the Christies-2 well will be connected and producing oil within a matter of weeks,” Nelson said.

Nelson also said that the PEL 92 Joint Venture has elected to proceed with the drilling of a third well on the structure immediately following completion of Christies-2.

"This in itself is an indication of how strongly we view the potential of this field and the surrounding areas," he said.

Participants in Christies-2 are Beach Petroleum (75% and Operator) and Cooper Energy NL (25%).