Chief executive Dave Bennett today said Austral, which operates PEP 38738, was very pleased at how readily Cheal-A4 had come onstream.

“Early flow results are positive, with the well exhibiting good pressure and temperature at surface and producing oil at un-stabilised rates in the hundreds of barrels per day range,” Bennett said.

This initial production test of the Miocene-aged Mt Messenger pay sands would continue for a month, before switching to the shallower Urenui pay sands, which would be tested separately and together with the Mt Messenger pay. Pressure gauges have been placed down-hole in Cheal-A3X to monitor reservoir response during Cheal-A4 flow.

“We will make further announcements in the next few days, as a pattern of stabilised flow emerges," Bennett said.

Meanwhile, the Cardiff-2 well, further south in the same licence, continued to make steady progress, being over 357m down, with the next casing point planned near 4000m. The objective Eocene-aged Kapuni Sands will be intersected below this depth, all the way to the planned 4900m target depth.