Hill said the privately-backed AusOil, which holds 100% of EP 422 in WA, plans to drill the wildcat Corvette-1 well in late September. There may be some earlier activity for the company if talks held so far with Empire Oil & Gas to farm in to the Eclipse-1 well come to fruition.

"We've had some talks with Empire but there has been nothing signed to date," he said. "We are moving ahead however to drill the Corvette well soon."

He said the investor base of AusOil was mainly from the United States and was prepared to drill Corvette on a 100% basis. "We may farm it out but the shareholders are quite prepared to pay all the drilling costs," said Hill.

"We've received environmental clearance, Native Title clearances and have been granted Government drilling approvals.

"The US investors are now using their own team and doing their own due diligence over our G&G work, to see if they agree on the location of the well site," he said.

Corvette-1 has a planned 2400 metre total depth. There was one well drilled in the vicinity previously which Hill said did not reach target depth.

AusOil also has as a consultant former WA petroleum bureaucrat Ian Fraser.