In a statement, VicPet said the DST recovered only mud and 0.5 litres of oil over the interval 1078-1081m in the Murta Formation.

“While we are disappointed that the oil recovered from the Murta Formation was not in commercial quantities, the presence of Murta oil this far south at Telowie-1 provides a great deal of encouragement for the possible presence of commercial Murta oil accumulations in the northern portion of PEL 94 containing the Dunoon Horst,” VicPet managing director John Kopcheff said.

“Exploration in PEL 94 will now focus on the Dunoon Horst area, which contains the Harpoono/Revenue and Rimfire Murta oil fields, with drilling likely in the next few months.”

Telowie-1 was the sixth well in VicPet’s planned 16-well Cooper Basin exploration program.

The PEL 94 joint venture comprises Beach (operator with a 50% stake), Magellan (35%) and VicPet (15%).