The company said it started drilling the well from the same surface location as the successful Viosca Knoll 26-1 well, which last week discovered 6.1m of gas pay, in line with pre-drill estimates.

This two-well program is targeting 3-5 billion cubic feet of gas equivalent net to Petsec.

Located in 29m of water, the well is expected to take seven to 10 days to reach a total measured depth of 2776m (909m vertical depth).

Petsec has made five successive discoveries from its drilling program in the Mobile Bay region during the last six months, all of which are expected to be brought into production by the third quarter of this year.

The Mobile Bay 994 lease, located about 160km east of New Orleans, is adjacent and to the south of the three gas discoveries made late last year on the Mobile Bay 950, 951 and 993 leases.

Petsec holds a 50% working interest (39.42% net revenue interest) in the Mobile Bay 994 lease, while Royal Exploration Company is operator.