Last week, the company undertook a cleanup of the well in which up to 6 million cubic feet of gas per day was flowed to surface.

But further analysis indicated the recovered gas was poor quality – dry and high in carbon dioxide – and thus not from the Plover Formation.

“Based on the inhibited Plover permeability, the quality of the produced gas and the volume of drilling fluids recovered on testing, the well test consultants believe that only the Elang sand has so far contributed to the current gas flow,” MEO said.

“The Elang sand appears to be isolated from the underlying Plover sands by the Elang shale unit, which would explain the significant difference in mud gas readings, pore pressure variation and possible gas quality.”

On clean-up, MEO determined there had been a blockage at the base of the Elang formation which, in addition to the LCM treatment of the Plover, is believed to have stopped the Plover sands from flowing.

As a result, the company has decided to sidetrack around the blockage at a depth of 4025m to drill a fresh Plover sand section and to deepen into the better sands observed in the lower section.

Once this section has been drilled, MEO plans to production-test the Plover sands, before plugging the well back for a test of the gas-charged zones of the Epenarra Formation.

“MEO remains optimistic that a significant, quality hydrocarbon resource is present in the Plover formation and believes that based on regional, geological correlations and 3D seismic interpretation, further good quality gas-saturated sands remain to be drilled below the current total depth (4182m),” the company said.