AED executive chairman David Dix said this was a positive outcome for AED at such an early stage in its brief history.

“Companies often drill for years without making a discovery and AED is fortunate to have made one with our first exploration well,” Dix said.

Drilling results, including wireline and electric logs, cuttings, shows and wireline pressure data as well as oil samples collected from both these zones, have shown that Puffin-9 has intersected almost 10m of oil in two separate zones.

In the UK1a sandstone, 6m of oil has been interpreted. While the discovery is likely to be a separate oil accumulation from that identified in Puffin-2 roughly 1.8km to the north, it is now interpreted to be part of the same Puffin Field.

In the LK1a sandstone, 3.8m of oil have been interpreted. Similar to the other newly discovered zone, while the discovery is a separate oil accumulation from that identified at Puffin-5 approximately 10km to the north-east, it is now interpreted to be part of the same Puffin Field.

AED managing director Ken Tregonning said technical evaluation was now underway to define reserves for the Puffin-9 discovery.

“The drilling results represent the first oil discovered in this region of the Vulcan Graben and underscores the prospectivity of this area,” Tregonning said.

“All other Puffin wells have been drilled to the north on the Puffin horst block. We are very satisfied with the work by our technical team and the support from the company’s drilling specialists Peak Well Management.”

The Stena Clyde drilling rig, which drilled Puffin-9, has now begun drilling the Puffin-7 production well. The first development well for the Puffin field, this is designed to access the proved reserves discovered originally by the Puffin-1 and Puffin-5 wells.

AED Oil has a 100% participating interest in AC/P22, which is in the Ashmore Cartier Exploration Permit area of the Vulcan Sub-Basin, located in the Bonaparte Basin in north-western Australia within uncontested Australian territorial waters.