Cooper told the market yesterday that the Parsons-2 well, which is 1.3km south of the discovery well, was located using 3D seismic data and was targeting 400,000 barrels of recoverable oil reserves.

The PEL 92 joint venture discovered the Parsons oil field discovery in November, with Parsons-1 which flowed 3300 barrels of oil per day on test.

Production from Parsons-1 is still on track to begin next month, Cooper said.

Beach holds a 75% stake in PEL 92, while Cooper has 25%.