The Melbourne-headquartered junior owns 30% of the project and said the well was substantiated by good subsurface control and two 2D seismic lines.

It was designed to test middle and upper Cretaceous-aged reservoirs to a depth of 5450 feet (1661m).

Natural gas is being produced about 2 miles (3.2km) away from the prospect, while the well site is only about 7000 feet from gas pipelines.

Austin’s managing director David Schuette said the company had two prospects being drilled simultaneously.

“Coupled with the progress at SW Edwards this is an exciting time for our company,” he said.

“Our team is working hard on both wells and I am looking forward to the continued progress.”

Austin’s Southwest Edwards prospect is in Hinds County, Mississippi, where the company has recently finished drilling an exploration well to a total depth of 13600 feet.

The company plans to case the well, before testing the identified zones.

Austin said the prospect was on trend with “excellent production” from several upper Cretaceous reservoirs and had been identified by subsurface control and both 2D and 3D seismic.