“The preparation for drilling five wells in early 2008 is proceeding as planned,” the two Perth-based companies said yesterday.

The partners have decided that their early 2008 drilling campaign will be entirely based on the prospects identified in the 149 square kilometre 3D seismic program shot in 2007.

“This change of locations reflects the excellent results from the fast-track processing of the 3D with seismic amplitudes beautifully defining known gas pools discovered in the 2006-07 drilling campaign,” Incremental said.

“It is thus reasonably anticipated that amplitude anomalies coincident with undrilled structures present low-risk targets.”

About 14 targets have been identified in the 3D area. Four locations have been approved by the joint venture for drilling in 2008, with the final decision on the fifth well location to be based on analysis of the final processed 3D seismic.

The partners plan to bring the 2006-07 gas discoveries, plus discoveries from the 2008 drilling campaign, into production by early 2009, according to Incremental, which is acting as operator.

The joint venture estimates that the discovered reserves and prospective resources within the 3D seismic area are between 10 and 20 billion cubic feet, with other undrilled prospects in the remainder of the block potentially adding to future gas resources,” the company said.

“The high gas price, good quality reservoirs and low cost of drilling generate excellent economics for these shallow plays.”