The Price A 22-7-10 well in the southern part of Hughes County, near the town of Gerty is part of the company’s six to eight-well drilling program in the United States this year.

It is the third well to be drilled by the company after Kitson-1 in the Cooper Basin and the OL Hill well also in Hughes County, said managing director Jayme McCoy.

“It is gratifying to have successfully drilled our first well in this prospect and to have moved to the second well," McCoy said.

"Our 2005 drilling program assumes the ability to maintain a continuous drilling program.

”We have come away from the OL Hill Well with a significant amount of data which will help us to improve our operational efficiencies as we move forward.

“This data has led us to changes in some of the drilling procedures we will be employing during the drilling of the Price Well. These changes are pointed at improved penetration rates and well bore conditions.”

Price A 22-7-10 is targeting a total depth of 1800 metres, and should take 18 days, the company said.

A maximum of 12 potential horizons will be evaluated, including Sundance’s primary target formations, the Caney and Woodford Shales.

As with the OL Hill Well, the focus will be on gas sands and non-conventional reservoirs, including tight, fractured, gas-saturated shales, McCoy said.

Negotiations were also in progress about OL Hill Well gas sales. Sundance said it expected the talks would be competed in the next three weeks, after which the well would be fracced and completed for production, he said.

Interests: Sundance Energy 45%, other US interests 55%.