But the Perth-based company today said preliminary analysis of wireline logs indicated the presence of a 3.2m gas column in a sandstone reservoir.

Carpathian said three cores were cut in the lower part of the well, the first in the target Miocene Karpat horizon and the remaining two largely in the Carboniferous section. About 6m of sandstone was interpreted in the first core, it said.

A 7-inch liner has been run and as of Monday, preparations were being made to perforate the liner and run a short production test of the well.

Carpathian said the financial benefit of this discovery would not be known before the test has been finished and the results analysed.

Mo-1 Skotnice lies between the depleted Kremlin gas field to the north and the Priobor-Klokocov field to the south, which reportedly produced 23 billion cubic feet of gas between 1945 and 1984.

Carpathian said the Skotnice prospect has been defined by a detailed study of some 28 coal exploration holes, 0.5-1km apart. The targets are Tertiary sandstones in a potential trap at a depth of about 400m and sandstones in the Carboniferous section not far beneath.

The company said it is very close to and updip of a coal exploration hole from which a gas flow of about 2.8 million cubic feet per day was recorded in 1961, some two years after it had been drilled.

The company is listed on both the Australian and London stock exchanges.