This is the third dry deviated well the HJV has drilled this month, following successive failures at Agamemnon-1 and Hector-1.

Junior partner Tap Oil told the Australian Stock Exchange yesterday that the Ensco-67 rig is now moving to drill the HJV’s next well, West Cycad-1, also in the offshore Carnarvon Basin.

While Priam-1 did not intersect any hydrocarbons in the target Double Island Sandstone, the well did encounter oil in the shallower oil reservoir of the Agincourt field.

But Tap said Priam-1 was not required to be a producer, as the majority of oil from this reservoir was expected to be drained from existing wells.

Priam-1 was drilled as a deviated well to a total depth of 1868m, about 1.5km northeast of the surface location.

HJV participants comprise Apache Northwest (operator with a 68.5% stake), Tap (Harriet) (12.2229%) and Kufpec Australia (19.2771%).