A drill stem test over the interval 2,843 – 2,890 metres in the Overston Sandstone was a misrun, according to Sunshine.

Therefore, successful testing of all the zones of interest with further DSTs was considered low due to the length of time the hole had been open, and its potential for further deterioration, the company said.

Consequently, Sunshine decided to abandon further DSTs and instead run a cased-hole production testing program.

The independent interpretation of the wire-line logs has indicated the likely presence of potential gas bearing zones over the basal Rewan sand, the Overston Sandstone and the Lorrelle Sandstone sections, company secretary Chris Blamey said.

“Pre-drill seismic mapping of the area suggests that a stratigraphic mechanism was required to trap hydrocarbons at Narrene-1,” Blamey said.

“The intersection of gas and fluorescence shows in drill cuttings and the interpretation of hydrocarbons from the wire-line logs at Narrene-1 appear to confirm a stratigraphic trap is present.”

Therefore, the interpreted hydrocarbons could be trapped over a potentially large area, according to Blamey.

He said this further encouraged Sunshine to evaluate Narrene-1 with a cased hole testing program, and also enhanced the potential for the ATP 645P permit to contain other such stratigraphic traps.

Following the recent successful flow test result at Overston-2 and results from the Narrene-1 well, Sunshine is preparing an appraisal drilling program over its Overston gas discovery for the second quarter.

The drilling of Pialaway-1 will now occur as part of that program to achieve economies of scale, it said.

Additional near term potential gas production from Sunshine’s Paranui coalbed methane asset, near Moura, is also being targeted in the second quarter with a core-hole and production testing program of the Permian Bandanna formation coal seams.

These coal seams have recorded sustained gas production from Conoco’s 1996 Paranui Pilot CSG program, according to Sunshine.