The wet weather halted both workover and drilling activities. But workover operations are expected to restart soon, as conditions are improving, the Brisbane-based company said yesterday in a statement.

As well as Lacerta, the rainfall has also interrupted the drilling of the Atria-2 well at a depth of 306m.

Access to the wellsite is expected to be re-established in the next day or two, so that the remainder of the drilling and re-evaluation program can be completed, Sunshine said.

Back at Lacerta, the company said production testing at Pilot-1 produced 308,000 cubic feet per day, with 1988 barrels of associated water.

It said this rate was achieved despite production being shut-in at Lacerta-8 due to the weather delays.

Meanwhile, the Mitchell Rig 105 has now been released from Lacerta, after drilling the Lacerta-19 corehole to a total depth of 423m. The well has been suspended pending completion as a pressure-monitoring well.

Once the Atria drilling program is finished, the Mitchell Rig 123 will return to Lacerta to complete the coring program.