Drillsearch on Friday said oil shows were encountered while drilling in the Murta Member of exploration well Bingilberry-1, which spudded on November 11.

It said a wireline log anomaly was found in the Birkhead Formation, very similar to that associated with Birkhead production elsewhere in the block.

“A DST [drill stem test] over the interval recovered formation water and filtrate,” Drillsearch said.

“The well has been plugged and abandoned and the rig released to the Endeavour-21 site.”

It said Endeavour-21, the first of 20 additional delineation/development wells at Endeavour, is being rigged up and is expected to be spudded shortly.

Nearby field exploration well Hakheem-1, spudded on November 15, also encountered oil shows while drilling in the target Murta Member.

Drillsearch said a DST over the interval 762-768m recovered filtrate and muddy formation water. This well has also been plugged and abandoned.

The rig will now be released to Aros-2.

Earlier this month, the joint venture partners plugged and abandoned the Seagoon-1 oil well at permit PL39 in southwest Queensland and continued to drill Endeavour-15 despite delays due to rig damage.

Seagoon-1, spudded on November 1, encountered moderate oil shows in the target Wyandra Sandstone. A subsequent DST and drilling results confirmed that the reservoir was oil-saturated but tight.

It also said at the time that rig PDI-724 was damaged while setting up at the Endeavour-15 site and as a result the oil delineation well was spudded behind schedule.

Participating interests in the Tintaburra Block are operator Santos (89%), Drillsearch (10%) and CPC Energy (1%).

At the beginning of the month, the partners successfully completed oil wells Mulberry-18 and Endeavour-12 in permit PL39.