The company told the market today that it planned to spud the Jasmine-1 exploration well – the fourth and final drilling commitment for the permit – tomorrow.

The three earlier wells returned mixed results, with Emily-1 cased and suspended after making a small oil discovery in the Birkhead Sandstone, Vanessa-1 discovered gas in the Toolachee and Epsilon formations, while Sarahlyn-1 was plugged and abandoned as a duster.

A fifth well, Michelle-1, had been planned for drilling, but the partners have instead decided to cancel this well in favour of acquiring 300 square kilometres of 3D seismic next year.

Eagle Bay said Jasmine-1 would be the first well to be drilled in the ‘under-explored’ western half of PEL 182, where it will evaluate a Patchawarra sand member observed by the 1991 Darter-1 well, located 6km away, to have 80% fluorescence.

“Darter-1 confirmed that oil has migrated through this region, and should be trapped up dip at the basin edge,” it said.

“An oil discovery here [at Jasmine-1] can be converted into profitable cash flow quickly at near record high oil prices, initially by trucking, and later by tying an oil pipeline into existing infrastructure.”

The well is targeting 11 million barrels of oil in this Patchawarra oil sand, at the P50 level of confidence, or 3 million barrels at the P90 level.

Interests in the PEL 182 joint venture are operator Eagle Bay, with 37.6%, AudDAX with 49.9%, Australian Oil Company with 5% and Dome Resources with 7.5%.