Hadda-1 produced oil shows but had poor reservior conditions, and there was reason to believe that other fields in the same fairway would also contain oil and would have better reservoirs, the company said.

“Voyager now considers the presence of a new oil kitchen area proven, adding to confidence that other similar, potential kitchen areas along trend may also have generated oil,” said the company’s managing director John Begg.

“Voyager maps many other, undrilled structures in its licences covering this regional geological trend and believes that specific areas where better reservoir could be found are already indicated on seismic.”

“The results of Hadda-1 are further validation of the oil potential of the offshore Perth Basin and our extensive holdings over the trend. Our challenge is to use this new information to high grade the most likely prospects and get them drilled.”

The Flying Foam prospect, about 30km north-northwest of Hadda-1, has recoverable oil potential of 30 million barrels and is one example of a structure located in a zone where Voyager predicts reservoi conditions much suuperior to those in Hadda-1, the company said.

"Over the past six months, while preparing for the final investment decision for the Cliff Head oil field and the drilling of Hadda-1, Voyager participated in five 2D seismic surveys in the company's offshore licences,” Begg said.

“This data has been interpreted and has substantially added to the company's inventory of leads and prospects having similar geology to the proven, oil producing areas of the Perth Basin."

Voyager said it was now developing plans to drill a selection of exploration prospects in conjunction with the Ensco 67 jackup rig being brought to the Perth Basin for the Cliff Head production well and facilities installation program. Ensco 67 is required to be on site at Cliff Head during October.