The former Australian company, now listed in Singapore, has drilled a costly well to 2959m in central Australia, terminating in the Officer Basin equivalent of the Cambrian Relief Sandstone.

The initial pre-Permian velocities used in the seismic interpretation were poorly controlled due to the lack of well intersections in the Arckaringa Basin, so the well was deepened well below its original target depth of 2500m.

The company wanted to investigate high energy seismic intervals that were initially believed to be at shallower depths, however after deepening the well the wireline logs shows that besides the small amounts of gas detected Eba-1 has not shown significant hydrocarbons.

Eba-1 was targeting unconventional reservoirs within the pre-Permian sequence where sediments are expected to be up to 2000m thick, and there were expectations of oil based in nearby wells at Maglia-1 and Cootanoorina-1.

Linc says that, if nothing else, the well has provided an extensive suite of geological data primarily relating to the deeper under explored pre-Permian sediments that mean it should be able to remap both the Ouldburra Formation and the Relief Sandstone equivalent within the regional seismic model to better understand the depositional and hydrocarbon generative history of the pre-Permian section.

That might allow Linc to better define potentially hydrocarbon rich areas of the basin, but while that work is ongoing the company will delay plans to drill Fox-1 in PEL 123.

That well had been pre-collared to 191m late last year.

Linc says not only can it remap the areas, but it should be able to get a better day rate on drilling rigs and associated services given the downturn in the global oil patch when it resumes drilling in the future.

Planning for the next round of wildcat exploration in the frontier Arckaringa Basin has begun, with seismic reinterpretations being completed for input into developing geological models.

Building a clearer picture of the basin is the primary objective with the aim of defining potential sweet spots to target for more concentrated seismic and follow up drilling in the near term.

Linc managing director Craig Ricato said the drilling had been successful in its main objective, improving the company's understanding of the basin's potential, even if it didn't find a gusher.

The program kicked off last year with the Pata-1 well where there were oil shows in the Stuart Range formation below between 1,137m and 1,182m.

Pata-1 well was terminated early due to drilling difficulties resulting in the loss of equipment downhole while drilling ahead in the pre-Permian Formation at 1611m.

The entire program was based on sparse well data, supplemented by an understanding of the Officer Basin formations.