Spudded on Tuesday morning, Murrippi-1 is expected to take 10 days to reach a total depth of 2241 metres and a further six days to evaluate.

It is the second of two wells being drilled by the Beach-led joint venture to test prospects in the ‘oil fairway' between the Christies, Sellicks, Callawonga and Parsons oil discoveries in PEL 92 to the southwest, and the Growler and Wirraway oil discoveries in PEL 104 to the northwest.

The first well, Ballapurudda-1, was drilled in December 2007.

Murrippi-1 is primarily targeting the basal Birkhead Formation/Hutton Sandstone and Patchawarra Formation, with secondary targets in the Poolowanna and mid-Birkhead Formations.

Pre-drill P50 recoverable reserves of 600,000 barrels of oil for the Hutton formation and 0.17 million barrels for the Patchawarra Formation are estimated.

Possible ‘fill to spill' potential of the structures is in the region of 2 to 3 million barrels of recoverable oil.

Great Artesian is fully funding its 60% interest in Murrippi-1, estimated at $1.14 million net, while operator Beach holds the remaining 40%.