Spudded on Tuesday, the Hovea-12 well, which follows September 2004’s Hovea-11, will primarily target the Dongara Sandstone, the main oil-producing reservoir in the Jingemia, Hovea and Eremia oil fields.

Arc said Hovea-12 was designed to intersect the Dongara Sandstone as near to the structural crest of the Hovea oil field as possible, which may be up to 20m updip from existing wells.

While the surface location of the well is inside the confines of the Hovea production facility, the well is being directionally drilled to intersect the top of the Dongara Sandstone at a depth of about 2274m, just over 1km north. The well is expected to take about 24 days to drill and complete.

Participants in L1 and L2 (excluding the Dongara, Mondarra and Yardarino fields) and Hovea 12 are Arc Energy (operator with a 50% stake) and Origin Energy Developments (50%).