Eagle said it was awarded oil exploration permit V04-6 by the Victorian Government because it had exceeded its six-year work obligations in the 100%-owned permits VicP41 and VicP47.

V04-6, which is in water depths exceeding 1000m, is located about 80km southeast of the giant Kingfisher oil field, co-owned by Esso and BHP Billiton.

Eagle said the new permit contained significant leads, including the Blue Whale lead, defined by magnetics and seismic to be about the same aerial size as Kingfisher at the sub-Latrobe level, which has not previously been drilled in the basin.

“Most of the world’s shallow water basins have been exhaustively explored for oil and it is the new deepwater frontier which offers the greatest prospect of new discoveries,” executive chairman Anthony Rechner said.

Rechner added that Eagle Bay was offering operatorship of the permit in return for a company with “substantial deepwater drilling experience” that was willing to undertake a 400 square kilometre 3D seismic survey.