Spudded on December 31, the well was yesterday morning being drilled ahead in a 12 ¼ inch hole at a depth of 242 metres.

Drilling is expected to take three weeks to reach a total depth of 1650 metres.

Oilex as operator said the well would evaluate the prolific Permo-Carboniferous reservoir interval which is a major productive horizon across Oman. In addition the well will be deepened to intersect the prospective Cambrian Huqf Formation, found to be oil-bearing in adjacent wells.

“The Sarha-1 area is covered by a modern 3D seismic dataset and should the well prove successful this will aid in expediting field development activities,” Oilex said.

“Shallow, low cost wells in an area of known oil accumulations located in close proximity to infrastructure make this an attractive region in which to explore.”

Sarha-1 is targeting between 6 million and 40 million barrels of oil resource potential.

Following this well, the JV will drill the Ghadaq-1 well in the western province of conventional plays and Alyanbou-1, in the frontier area on the northern salt wall trend.

Ghadaq-1 is targeting 5-30 mmbbls of oil potential, while Alyanbou-1 is aiming at 10-375 mmbbls.

An additional four wells are planned for the third quarter of 2008 on locations that will depend on the results from the initial three well program.

A further four wells are due for drilling in late 2008 and the first quarter of 2009.

Oilex and its partners Videocon, GAIL, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum have been working towards an exploration program in Oman since winning Block 56 in July 2006.

“In that time, Oilex has developed a significant operating capability within Oman with capacity to execute a major drilling campaign on behalf of the joint venture,” it said.