The under-explored permit, T/46P, is located in less than 200m of water in the offshore Gippsland Basin, which contains three giant oil fields that have collectively produced more than 4 billion barrels of oil.

In addition to this permit and its large foothold in the Cooper Basin, the company also has a stake in offshore Otway Basin permit EPP 27, where operator Oilex undertook a 2D seismic survey in mid-2006.

To date, only three wells have been drilled in T/46P – the most recent being Sailfish-1 in 1971 – while most of the sparse seismic coverage was collected during the 1960s.

“This is a huge area on the flank of Australia’s most prodigious oil province,” Great Artesian managing director Dr Ray Shaw said.

“It seems incredible that there have been virtually no exploration here during the past 35 years, a period in which there has been enormous advances in seismic and drilling technologies and the price of oil.”

Over the next three years, Great Artesian has agreed to undertake geological studies and 2D seismic acquisition in the permit, before it decides whether or not to drill an exploration well.

Geologically, the permit is potentially exposed to hydrocarbon migration out of the main offshore Gippsland Basin depocentre to the north, as well as hydrocarbons generated across the rifted, outboard margin to the east, according to Great Artesian.

“These rifted, or so-called Atlantic, margin settings account for some 30% of the world’s giant fields,” Shaw said.

“This fact, coupled with the close proximity to existing offshore Gippsland Basin infrastructure, make this permit such an obvious place to be exploring.”