The Perth-based company said as of today, the partners had drilled West Cycad-1 to a total depth of 2178m and finished wireline logging, pressure testing and fluid sampling.

Testing and sampling confirmed the presence of a 9m oil column at the Flag Sandstone objective, while two other thin zones of oil and gas respectively were intersected, it said.

The well will now be plugged and abandoned as planned.

“The West Cycad-1 oil discovery is an encouraging result,” Tap said.

“Further work will be required to determine if the hydrocarbon pool can be commercially developed, as it is not within the reach of the existing platform in the area.

“More significantly, it is the southern-most oil field discovered in the Flag Sandstone fairway to date and hence bodes well for further oil exploration in that part of the HJV acreage.”

Tap said after finishing operations on West Cycad-1, the Ensco 67 drilling rig will move to the South Gibson production platform to drill the Gobi-1 exploration well.

Tap has a 12.22% interest in HJV, while operator Apache Northwest has a 68.5% stake and Kufpec Australia, 19.28%.