This morning, the well had reached 1986m and was continuing to a revised total depth of 2060m.

Tap expects the well to reach total depth in the next 24 hours, at which time wireline evaluation will begin.

“Whilst the intersection of a hydrocarbon column is encouraging, until the formation evaluation program is completed and the data log analysed, it is not possible to be definitive about the results of the well at this stage,” managing director Paul Underwood said.

“The logging program is expected to be completed by the end of this week after which a further announcement will be made.”

Amulet-1, which is 133km north-northeast of Dampier, is targeting a prospect with the potential to contain between 30 and 40 million barrels of recoverable oil reserves, the Perth-based company said.

The well site is also about 4km east of the Talisman Oil Field, which produced 7.7 million bbl of high quality oil between 1989 and 1992.

Lying in about 85m of water, Amulet-1 is designed to test a four-way dip closed structure along the north-eastern margin of the Dampier Sub-basin.

Joint venture partners in Amulet-1 are Tap Oil and Kufpec Australia, which each hold a 50% interest.