Canberra could still turn out to have significant hydrocarbons with Mosaic Oil undertaking further testing on the hunch that the horizontal drilling could yield rewards.

But operator Victoria Petroleum has now begun drilling at Mirage-1. This well will test the Mirage anticlinal structure, an oil prospect located 5km from the recent Ventura oil discovery.

“The recovery of clean oil from Jurassic sandstones in the Ventura-1 oil discovery is encouraging for the chances of success at Mirage-1, as these Jurassic sands are the targets for Mirage-1,” Kopcheff said.

Victoria Petroleum says the Mirage prospect has an interpreted potential to contain within target Jurassic sands up to 12 million recoverable barrels of oil, if oil is present.

Interests in PEL 115 are Victoria Petroleum (operator) 40%, Roma Petroleum 20%, Impress Ventures 15%, Entek Energy 12.5% and Tacnas Pty 12.5%.