Arc is now laying down the drill string and bottom hole assembly, before running abandonment plugs.

The well was drilled to 2,995 metres, at a hole angle of 53 degrees and a horizontal step out of about 1,450 metres from the surface location. The company said these drilling techniques set new records for onshore Western Australia.

Managing director Eric Streitberg said it was a cost-effective well, due to the sophisticated drilling techniques used, including drilling highly deviated wells to long offset distances.

“These drilling techniques have been continually refined over the course of the drilling program and now provide the means to test prospects and plays which were unable to be considered even six months ago,” he said.

Streitberg said the reservoir section tested in Kunzia-1 BC1 appeared similar to that encountered in the Eremia and Jingemia fields.

“The Kunzia prospect was a relatively high risk “buttress” closure similar to the recent Senecio discovery and relied on the cross fault juxtaposition of the right formations or a fault plane seal to form a trap,” Streitberg said.

“The well data suggests that the failure of the structure to contain hydrocarbons was caused by the juxtaposition of the Dongara Sandstone reservoir section against non-sealing rocks of the Irwin River and High Cliff formations.”

The rig will now move to drill a sidetrack at Senecio-1. It will aim to test the reservoir by limiting the drilling induced formation damage as much as possible, he said.

Participants in Kunzia-1 are Arc Energy Limited 50% (operator) and Origin Energy Developments Pty Ltd (a wholly owned subsidiary of Origin Energy Limited) 50%.