Eremia 1 intersected an oil column of at least 15 metres and possibly up to 18 metres in what the companies described as an excellent quality Dongara Sandstone reservoir. This zone has been cased for future production.

The only down side for the companies is that the smaller and deeper gas targets in the Irwin River Coal Measures sequence and High Cliff Sandstone were water bearing, but Streitberg effectively discounted this when balanced against the oil they found.

Cement plugs will now be run to isolate these zones prior to the well being completed for production from the Dongara Sandstone oil reservoir.

Yesterday, Streitberg was the subject of good-natured ribbing from Roc Oil chief, John Doran, operator of the offshore Perth Basin Cliff Head oil discovery. Some tongue-in-cheek image manipulation saw the usually crusty Melbourne audience chuckle at Doran's slide of Streitberg with a cut and pasted crown perched on the top of his head.

His recent bad experience with press photographs was evident - the West Australian newspaper recently ran a Discovery Petroleum-era photograph showing a dark and voluminously bouffanted Streitberg which reportedly saw him get a good ribbing from his peers.

"You are not going to run that photograph of me in the crown, are you," said the 6 foot plus Streitberg to this vertically challenged correspondent in a tone that intimated it was not a question.

Doran's amusing presentation also showed a typical example of oilfield negotiations, showing some senior executives hunkered down on a pavement sharing a drink from a brown paper bagged bottle of something expensive.

Clearly, Doran had been looking at the casualties from the APPEA conference, which finished in the same city the previous day.