The well in WA-24-R about 100 kilometres northwest of Barrow Island, was drilled to a total depth of 4297 metres and intersected about 74m of net gas pay.

Of this, 31m was encountered in a deeper, previously unexplored target interval in the Orthrus field.

"Our leading Carnarvon Basin leasehold and our accompanying exploration success help underpin further expansion opportunities on the Gorgon project," Chevron Asia Pacific Exploration and Production president Jim Blackwell said.

A Chevron spokesman told PetroleumNews.net that the well was drilled by the Atwood Eagle semi-submersible drilling rig.

Chevron holds a 50% stake in WA-25-R while ExxonMobil holds 25%.

The remaining 25% is held equally by Shell and BP.

In August last year Chevron said it was confident it had enough gas to add another train to the already-massive three-train project, which is capable of producing 15 million tonnes of LNG per annum.

Gorgon has been designed with enough space for a total of five trains.

Meanwhile, The West Australian reported a dredger had run aground on Barrow Island, spilling oil into water around the A-class nature reserve.

The newspaper quoted Maritime Union of Australia Western Australia secretary Chris Cain as saying the vessel had hit an anchor in shallow water, causing a 5m gash in the hull and rupturing a dirty oil tank.

Chevron said there were no injuries and emergency response procedures were activated to secure the vessel and contain its fuel.

Greens member for mining and pastoral Robin Chapple said that under environmental restrictions, the vessel should not have been near shallow water.