The Perth-based company said it expects to pay $3 million for the well, located in the South Madura production sharing contract, as a result of slow drilling progress.

So far the well has penetrated the secondary gas target, but Cooper said the evaluation of the wireline log data indicated that while these sands were probably gas-bearing, the high shale-clay content meant they were unlikely to be suitable for production.

“Furthermore, the potential for these sands to deliver a commercial hydrocarbon flow has most likely been degraded by formation damage caused by a loss of drilling mud and lost circulation material into these zones,” Cooper said.

As a result, Cooper as operator said it would not test the sands, unless further evaluation indicates the sands have commercial potential.

“This consideration is still to be reviewed by our joint venture participants and the Indonesian Government before making a final decision,” the company said.

Cooper is currently preparing the hole for running new casing, before drilling ahead towards the primary oil target at a depth of 3000m.

The Kujung target has an estimated 200 million barrels of undiscovered recoverable oil (P50).