Samson told the market this morning that the Lookout Wash 30-31 well was yesterday drilling ahead at a depth of 890 feet (271m). Total depth is planned for about 11,090ft.

The well is in the central part of the field, adjacent to the best performing well, which has produced more than 3 billion cubic feet of gas.

Lookout Wash 30-31 is expected to recover 2.2Bcf and come online at an initial production rate of 2.5 a million cubic feet per day.

But there was no word on whether output had restarted at the field, after the operator shutdown the field at the beginning of this month as a result of low gas prices in the Rockies region.

Samson estimated the shutdown would cost it about $US30,000 in lost revenue, but will be compensated through the two fixed forward swaps that it has in place for this gas, the Perth-based company told the market yesterday.

Output was turned off due to the low gas price set for October, which was just $US1.11 per million British thermal units.