Other wells in the program have included Cabbots-1, Talia-1, Keeley-1 and Kiana-2, all of which have been unsuccessful.

Appadare-1 is the first well in this program to be participated in by Rawson Resources, which today said over the weekend the hole was drilled to 654m and the surface casing run and cemented.

“Appadare is a Poolowanna and Patchawarra oil play developed by Rawson using results from a soil-gas survey conducted by the company and our geological and geophysical interpretation of the results and seismic data,” Rawson said.

Appadare-1 will be drilled to a total depth of 2095m using the Century Rig 3 and is expected to take about 10 days to drill.

Raswon said the speculated mean recoverable oil reserves are assessed at 1.2 million barrels (MMbbl) with potential full-to-spill recoverable reserves at 2.1MMbbl.

Rawson is paying 80% of Appadare-1's drilling costs, while its partner Ausam Resources is paying 20% of the cost of the well. Under the deal, Rawson will earn a 40% interest in any commercial discovery while Ausam will earn 10%.

Operator Beach holds a 20% stake in the well, while Great Artesian Oil & Gas holds the remaining 30% interest.