Great Artesian told the market this morning that the third drill stem test (DST-3), over a second interval 2121-2128m, recovered 36 barrels of oil, 14 barrels of water and 14 barrels of water-cut drilling mud to the surface, without any flow to surface.

DST-1 had previously recovered 8bbl of oil from a deeper zone of 2137-2149m, while DST-2 failed over the interval of 2123-2127m due to mechanical problems.

Beach, as operator, will further evaluate the well using sidewall cores and pressure sampling to determine the commercial significance of the well.

Murrippi-1 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.