Main Pass 19-1 had intersected seven productive sands with an estimated 35 metres of net gas pay, Petsec executive chairman Terry Fern said yesterday.

“These results have exceeded our pre-drill expectations and casing is now being run in the well for future gas production,” he said.

“Petsec has already acquired an existing platform and jacket and a sales pipeline is in close proximity to the drilling location of this latest successful well. This should enable commercial discoveries at Main Pass 19 to be brought into production within a matter of months.”

The new Main Pass well is located 128km south-east of New Orleans. It is the first in a program of two to three wells to be drilled from the same location to test mapped potential of 12 billion cubic feet to 15 billion cubic feet equivalent of natural gas (net to Petsec).

The second well in the program is scheduled to spud once production casing has been set in the Main Pass 19-1 well.

Petsec has a 55% working interest in the well and a 45.83% net revenue interest.