Gurame-1X is a shallow-water appraisal well designed to further delineate the gas field, with drilling expected to take one month to reach a total depth of 2900m

Five other wells have been drilled to date on the Gurame gas discovery, all of which confirmed the presence of gas in a number of vertically stacked reservoirs.

Recoverable reserves for the Gurame field, in which Cooper has a 22.5% stake, are estimated to be between 400 billion cubic feet of gas and 20 million barrels of liquids and up to 2.7 trillion cubic feet and 150MMbbl.

Gurame is about 50km from the supergiant Arun gas condensate field and liquefied natural gas plant, and close to gas infrastructure and markets.

Last month, Cooper was forced to abandon its first Indonesian well, Kurnia-1, due to difficult hole conditions, but remained optimistic the prospect could one day deliver a commercial result.